


Family Is What You Make It (COMPLETE)

by ElSandersWrites



Series: Family Is What You Make It [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Logan's a teacher, Takes place in the real world, analogical - Freeform, just cute fluff, mention of bad parents, not that much detail though, remy's a cat, there's a lot of British spellings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:47:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 31,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27618583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElSandersWrites/pseuds/ElSandersWrites
Summary: Logan's a maths teacher happily married to his husband Virgil with their cat Remy. Life seems settled until two of his students ask for help, and suddenly he's thrown into the world of being a father figure. But he knows it's the best decision, and he loves his new found kids.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil & Creativity | Roman & Logic | Logan & Morality | Patton, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Everyone, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Sleep | Remy Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Everyone, Deceit | Janus Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders & Everyone, Logic | Logan Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Morality | Patton Sanders & Everyone
Series: Family Is What You Make It [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2052087
Comments: 95
Kudos: 195





	1. Cat Dads

Logan Crofters knew he always wanted to be a teacher. His earliest memories were forcing his mum and dad to sit on the wooden floor in front of his small blackboard while he taught them the alphabet or basic maths. It wasn’t until college that that plan actually went into action. 

It was his freshman year of college and he was pretty sure he wanted to major in maths. Because of his high grades everyone around him had pushed him to be ‘more than a teacher’ – so he settled with a maths major to become an economist or mathematical researcher in the future. Mathematics was always a passion anyway. He could remember walking around the library quietly like it was yesterday, getting textbooks he needed as well as a few interesting fiction books for his entertainment. He was mostly on autopilot until he saw a fellow student doing homework incorrectly and his instincts kicked in.

“Seventeen is a prime number. You did factorisation incorrect at some point, I can imagine at the second step.” The student looked up once Logan made that remark, and the two of them finally met eyes. Logan immediately felt butterflies looking into the dark brown eyes in front of him, and he assumed the other student felt the same about his own dark blue eyes as a slight blush graced his cheeks. “I’m sorry that was rude of me…” Logan eventually managed to mumble, feeling as though the boy in front of him dressed in dark clothing with bright purple hair was taking the voice out of him. He cleared his throat and was about to continue to examine the shelves when the other boy finally spoke.

“Please help me.” He whispered, turning back to the book in front of him and pointing at a set of questions. “I hated my maths teacher in high school… And I guess this is my payback.” Logan smiled slightly and sat next to him placing his bag on the floor and books on the table. “I’m Virgil Black by the way – you?”

And that was the reason Logan changed his major to education – and how he got his husband. Just seeing Virgil’s eyes light up when he got a question correct made him want to give several students the opportunity to have that experience in the future, as well as making Logan fall more and more in love with Virgil. He heard from Virgil and others he knew about all the bad teachers in their lives and wanted to make a change. In regards to his relationship with Virgil, they had dated for three years, he proposed as soon as they both graduated college, and they had been married for another three. It was heaven.

Logan parked in the driveway of his and Virgil’s two bedroom house and walked in. “Honey I’m back!” He shouted, entering the living room where Virgil sat watching TV with their cat, Remy, sprawled across his lap fast asleep. It had just been Virgil, Logan and their cat son since they married and they didn’t mind it. The spare bedroom was only used when family visited – and was needed for that as although the pair lived in Florida, Logan’s family originally lived in the UK. Logan walked over and stroked Remy’s fluffy head while kissing Virgil’s cheek.

“How was work?” Virgil asked, pausing his TV programme while Logan leant on his shoulder. Logan only shrugged.

“I hate teaching factorial theorem…” Logan nuzzled Virgil’s neck. Virgil giggled. While Virgil worked two jobs, a barista and an editor for the local newspaper, he had said several times he would not ever willingly go back to high school and on some days he even complains about having to talk to teenagers in the coffee shop. He’d always say it was a miracle how Logan did it without wanting to go straight to bed afterwards, especially since he was a maths teacher and no kid was ever actually interested in maths – or if they had they’d been a bore to talk to – a statement Logan took slight jokingly offense to when it first came out of Virgil’s mouth. That’s probably why kids hadn’t been a priority for the couple, they were happy being Cat Dads.

Remy pounced off Virgil’s lap and made his way towards the kitchen. “Oh – looks like Remy wants his Dad to feed him.” Virgil laughed while they both watched Remy jump on a counter in the kitchen and stare at the pair of them angrily.

“Maybe he’s a Pap’s boy?” Logan also laughed while looking up at Virgil. The two of them had pretty much adopted Dad names for themselves as soon as they brought Remy home. Virgil rolled his eyes and didn’t move.

“I got the new tins this morning, it’s your turn Sherlock.”

Logan sighed and stood again, giving Virgil one last kiss before approaching their fluffy fat son for probably his fifth meal of the day. Remy brushed his head against Logan’s leg causing grey fur to get all over his suit trousers. Once the food was placed on the floor Remy ate without even a purr as a thank you.

“Well, I’m going to the study to mark some homework before Remy steals the desk chair.” Logan smiled, walking across the living room to the small attached room that he believed used to be a children’s play room but was quickly changed into a study once the couple moved in.

“When’s this homework due Lo?” Virgil pouted, now lying on the sofa covered by a blanket. 

“The Monday after next week – I want to get it done early.” Virgil sighed in a laugh and rolled his eyes. Logan had an awful habit of doing work due for months in the future, so two weeks wasn’t as bad as it could be but Virgil still had an adequate reason to stop him from doing it.

“Can you leave it for tonight? Nightmare Before Christmas is playing in twenty minutes and it’s the best day to watch it as it’s exactly the midpoint between Halloween and Christmas. Please?” Virgil pouted harder and gave his best impression of puppy eyes, and Logan already knew he couldn’t say no.

“Alright…” Logan sat down and brought an arm around Virgil who snuggled in and shared the blanket. “But tomorrow I have to mark that homework and create the exam for my seniors next semester.”

“We already know you aren’t though.” Virgil said simply with a smirk as they waited for the movie Virgil was watching previously to finish and Nightmare Before Christmas to begin. And Virgil was correct. Tomorrow night Logan would start work on the homework but be disrupted when Virgil returned from his editorial job and he’d want cuddles. They both knew their days were like clockwork, and in no way did they even think of changing that soon. Remy was enough of a spoilt brat as it is.


	2. Logan's classes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan has to teach maths to two of his challenging sophomore students, Roman and Remus. Not until a promise is made does Logan realise he might have hope with one of the boys.
> 
> TW - There's a little bit of swearing (it's Janus talking what do you expect), also mention of being AFAB and wearing a binder. But apart from that Logan's a good teacher, good friend and a good husband.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Also appreciate the Percy Jackson reference with Janus Jackson)

It was quiet when Logan started his day at work. He often liked arriving before the students, because of the quiet but because he could also get some work done without Virgil or Remy wanting attention. He let out a quiet yawn as he walked into his classroom, corrected the date on the whiteboard and logged onto his computer with his staff account. He thought he was completely alone until he heard a familiar knock. “Fu… Logan it’s not even 7am what are you doing here?” Logan’s work friend, Janus Jackson, said as he walked in. Janus was an English teacher, part of the drama department, and fellow book nerd friend of Logan. He would even say Janus was his best friend but that was a role specifically for his husband – but Janus was pretty close.

“I want to get this test done for next semester – there are a few seniors who really need to up their GPA.” Logan said clearly, no specific emotion in what he was saying as he was focusing on sorting out textbooks and worksheets ready for his first period class. “Why are you here early Janus?”

“Left my Jekyll and Hyde book in my classroom and came to retrieve it and then nap until eight.” Janus said in the same emotionless voice helping Logan sort through the paperwork anyway and placing textbooks on the desks. “I really thought you’d be still fucking your husband at this hour.”

“You say that every morning Jan.” Logan tried to suppress a laugh as he rolled his eyes. Janus only shrugged and mumbled something under his breath while Logan thought of a comeback. “I thought you’d be finding a husband to fuck at this hour.”

Janus glared with an unamused face but then started to laugh. Logan wasn’t known for swearing that often, especially in front of students, but it seemed to become an essential part of his vocabulary when talking to Janus. With the help of Janus soon his classroom was ready, his PowerPoints were all open on his computer, workbooks were on every desk or organised neatly on Logan’s desk, and practice activities a plenty were scribbled on the whiteboard. Janus let out a large yawn and sat on one of the student tables while Logan sat by his desk and double checked his PowerPoints. “Ooh! You want to hear some tea?” Janus giggled and Logan nodded absentmindedly. “You know our school performance is Twelfth Night?” Logan nodded again, Janus absolutely loved when he got to direct the school performances – although he usually preferred ‘classic drama’ like Shakespeare to singing and dancing musicals. “I offered the person playing Viola to wear a binder while Viola disguises as a man and offered them to wear it around school – turns out they really like it and are exploring their gender identity!”

“What’s their name? I’ll add them to my notes so if I teach them I can ask their preferred pronouns and name…” Logan dragged his focus away from his first period PowerPoint to his document of students who had changed their names and pronouns while attending the school so he could make changes to the register when he needed to. Janus gave the name of the AFAB person and continued chatting about the school play until classes begun, and both needed to teach.

*****

It was fourth period, just before lunchtime, and Logan had a sophomore class. Luckily this was a good class, and the class being just before lunchtime meant the kids were low on energy and just wanted the hour to go so they could refill their hunger and social need again. The class would be his favourite if there wasn’t two specific students. “Remus you can make your – catapult – contraption at lunchtime.” Logan raised his voice slightly at the small schoolboy in the back of the class throwing blu tack at other students. “Let’s focus on quadratic graphing right?” Remus mumbled and put his head on his desk, twirling his pencil in his hands. It was a shame; Logan had offered Remus every piece of help he could think of to get him to focus but nothing worked. He just couldn’t attend after school classes, he didn’t give a reason why, but Remus just had a habit of distancing himself from all students and staff without an explanation.

Well, he was distant from everyone except his twin brother.

“Mr Crofters?” Remus’ twin, Roman, almost screamed while stretching his hand up as far as he could reach it. He didn’t mind that his teacher was mid-sentence, the question seemed urgent to him. Logan looked over with a small smile. “Are you going to watch the dress rehearsal of Twelfth Night this Friday?” Logan couldn’t help but sigh under his breath. Roman always managed to ask an off-topic question each lesson. The Twelfth Night performance was of recent interest, since the entire school knew Mr Crofters and Mr Jackson were ‘besties’. At first it was whether he knew what the performance was before the script was announced, then if he knew who got which parts, and now it was apparently if he was attending rehearsals. It made sense for Roman to have an interest – he was in all the drama and theatre clubs and classes and to be honest he was good for a sophomore. Logan didn’t know who got which role of the play, but he honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Roman got a senior role. 

“Only family are allowed to see the dress rehearsal Roman - along with Mr Jackson and other members of staff in the drama department.” Logan said, making the class quiet before he began explaining the maths work again. When he turned from the whiteboard saw Roman again, Roman’s mind had obviously drifted. The face that was usually covered by a wide smile instead held a frown as Roman looked at the worksheet in front of him and twirled his finger in his hair. When Logan set the class to do the textbook work Roman didn’t move or acknowledge the change in activity. A few members of the class had realised Logan was looking sympathetically at Roman and tried to ask if Roman was alright or cheer him up without a response. “Uh… I’ll strike a deal with you Roman.” Logan smiled a little as Roman finally looked up. “You complete all the questions in page forty three by lunch and I’ll see what I can do about going to the dress rehearsal.”

Logan could swear he saw Roman’s eyes glow at that deal. “Really Sir?” Roman smiled wide again and leaned forward. Logan nodded, the questions were relatively simple and could be done correctly before the end of the lesson if Roman had been listening to what Logan was saying. “Does it have to be correct?”

“Of course Roman.” Logan sat at his desk while Roman immediately looked to his work and worked more focused than Logan had ever seen him before. Even when Remus and other students were pulling jokes Roman kept his head down and worked.

The lunch bell rang just as Roman dropped his pen to signal that he finished the activity. He looked at Logan like a dog who’d just done a trick as the students around him left to eat in the canteen. Logan walked over and kneeled opposite him to inspect. There were correct answers, those were usually near the beginning where the questions were easier. It was just the last three questions that were disastrously incorrect. He could see Roman’s face drop as he looked at those questions. “It’s wrong isn’t it?” Logan nodded silently. “Oh – thanks for the offer to come see me anyway Sir.” Roman was about to grab his book before Logan spoke.

“Can you stay for a few minutes so I can explain where you went wrong?” Roman nodded slowly and Logan sat opposite to explain the questions. It only took a few minutes for him to understand and do it correct and be let go to lunch. “See you Friday Roman.” 

Roman’s eyes glowed again happily. His smile became the biggest Logan had ever seen. “Thank you Sir!” Roman shouted, waving his teacher goodbye and running out the classroom.

While Roman ran down the corridor, Janus walked into Logan’s classroom. Janus and Logan often ate lunch together unless one of them had a club or detention to attend to. Janus raised an eyebrow and smirked. “I swear you’ll sacrifice your last day for your stupid maths lessons.” He sat with his lunch as Logan got his packed lunch out his bag that Virgil made him. 

“I made a deal with Roman.” Logan got straight to the point, he didn’t see a point in jumping around the subject. Janus raised his eyebrow again.

“Is it legal bud?” Janus sniggered and Logan gasped and scowled.

“Of course it is! I just made a deal with Roman that I’ll see the dress rehearsal this Friday and watch it. Can I do that?”

“Don’t see why not.” Janus shrugged. “I’ll just sign you up to the theatre staff. You don’t have to do anything for it – I’ll sign you up as a performance counsellor or something since I think there isn’t a kid in this school who doesn’t like you.” Logan and Janus both laughed. The only obstacle to watch the school play – which honestly wasn’t really an obstacle – was Virgil.

*****

Logan was making dinner when Virgil came home. Virgil kissed Logan’s cheek and hugged him from behind, staying there for a few minutes. “How was work?” Logan said cheerily, making sure no Remy blocked his feet and he and Virgil walked to another counter. Virgil mumbled before speaking.

“People… Speaking is difficult.” He mumbled, smiling. “You fed Remy?”

“You think Remy would let me forget?” Logan laughed pointing to their fluffy grey Persian cat who was sat in the middle of the dining table fast asleep with his tail shaking as if he disapproved being talked about while asleep. “You just sit down and close your eyes, I’ll make you some tea.” Logan paused cooking to turn on the kettle. Virgil let go of Logan’s waist and yawned, nuzzling into the crook of his neck for a moment.

“I love you so much my nerd.”

Virgil and Logan then sat at the dining table with Remy sleeping between them. It was silence as they liked it, until Logan remembered what he was doing at the end of the week. “I’m staying late on Friday by the way.”

“Friday?” Virgil moaned after he swallowed a piece of fish. “Lo I thought we agreed your ‘day with no taking work home’ would be Friday so we could cuddle.” Virgil’s voice seemed almost pleading, he knew how Logan could easily fall into the habit of overworking and Virgil tried his best to help him.

“We’ll change it to Saturday, you have the less hours then so you can have more cuddles. I promised a student and I really want to gain rapport with him.” Virgil sighed and looked in thought for a minute.

“Fine. If you dare pick up a pen on Saturday I’m punishing you.” Virgil laughed and reached over to hold Logan’s hand. Logan rubbed the hand against his cheek but then thought of a very Janus-esque response.

“How so will you punish me? Shall I get the bed ready?” Logan smirked and gave a wink which predictably made Virgil as red as a tomato. He just playfully scowled and continued eating.


	3. Ray-Feliz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan teaches middle schoolers for a lesson, and discovers more about two of his students because of it.
> 
> TW - One swear word at the beginning and mention of mental health issues from a third person perspective (so no actual negative thoughts - just mention of a character actually having them)

“Wake up sleepyhead.” A kiss came on Logan’s forehead as a beeping alarm sounded next to his ear. Logan’s eyes opened to his husband dressed in his barista uniform, brushing his purple hair away from his face with a smirk on his face. Virgil must have had an early shift at the coffee shop. Logan stretched and got showered and dressed, once he got in his suit Virgil was making Logan’s lunch for him. 

“You don’t have to do that every morning.” Logan yawned, doing his tie as he went downstairs. “I’m not a kid.” Virgil smirked and kissed his cheek, sipping his coffee slightly to wake up.

“I wouldn’t mind making only you lunches every day until we die.” Virgil whispered, making sure his bag was packed. After his barista job Virgil had a meeting with his editorial company for a few hours that would likely last until the early evening. “Don’t work too hard darling.”

“Can’t promise that.” Logan laughed as he turned on his laptop. He always liked to check his emails in the morning before going to the school so that he knew of any early morning meetings to attend. Once he saw his most recent email he let out a long sigh – today was going to be a long day. Virgil looked over attentively after the sigh and also looked at the email. “I’m covering eighth grade maths period one… Fucking middle schoolers.” Virgil laughed and wished Logan luck before going to work. Logan let out a large sigh again before grabbing a short breakfast and getting to work as well.

*****

“Today is Tuesday, December the first.” Logan said, writing the date on the board and underlining it. “Make sure the date is written so I know how much work you did.” Logan had already written and said the date twice, but hardly any of the kids had their books open at that point let alone paying attention.

“It’s almost Christmas!” A random child screamed, causing laughter to erupt across the classroom. Logan took a deep breath. This hour must have seemed a little like a field trip for them, as the middle school was next to the high school so rarely a few middle school classes were taught in high school classrooms by high school teachers if their original teacher wasn’t present. There was a reason Logan wasn’t a middle school teacher.

“Yes it is, and Christmas will come quicker if you do these negatives and positives worksheets.” Logan handed out all the worksheets, deciding getting these children to write the date was a lost cause. Once the work was handed out a few more started their work, but Logan’s main priority had to be behaviour control. Unfortunately though, Logan was regarded as a good teacher so wasn’t given some easy independent work to hand out – it was quite complex for their age group working on negative multiplication and division. He knew some kids needed help amongst this mess.

“Mr Crofters Sir!” A hand appeared in the crowd from a small kid in the second row. Logan immediately paused while his brain registered the kid. Logan had never taught this specific maths class before, and the middle school was quite large so seeing the same child more than once before they entered high school was a rarity – but this child looked familiar. Curly blond hair, large glasses, endless enthusiasm, he seemed recognisable. “How do you do question four?”

Logan nodded and worked through question four on the board. The boy enthusiastically thanked him once he understood and continued his work. Meanwhile Logan checked the register to find this mysterious kid’s name: Patton Ray-Feliz. He recognised the surname from somewhere but he had so many students he couldn’t remember who – and it could have even been a student who graduated from the school or moved. “Patton – who’s your sibling?” Logan said to he thought only himself. Patton raised his head and chirped up.

“My brothers are Roman and Remus, they’re sophomores and you teach them Sir.” Patton chirped before continuing his work. Logan raised an eyebrow. Roman and Remus had never mentioned having another brother. Usually things like that were common knowledge, the students would either talk about the sibling calling them a ‘bother’ or a ‘cutie’ depending on their relationship with them, sometimes telling Logan about the sibling directly if they were in the high school or near the high school age so that there was no escape from the embarrassment of being compared to said sibling. If they didn’t mention it there was bound to be a chance to hear about the sibling due to missing work if the sibling was younger or help with work if the sibling was older. Logan felt sorry for both Patton and their parents, dealing with the two troublemaker twins – although endearing they were a handful – and that made Logan think they were the only offspring in their family.

Luckily later in the day Logan taught Roman and Remus’ class. It was last period so even less people had the energy to misbehave. He completed the register, every child was present – not many students skipped Mr Crofters’ class even if it was boring. Only one student was absent, Remus Ray-Feliz. Logan taught the class like normal, even though it was quieter and less chaotic, but once it reached the end of the period Logan persuaded Roman to stay behind. 

“Roman, where’s your brother?”

“Oh my brother got sick at school.” Roman said matter-of-factly. Logan furrowed his eyebrows and examined the registers. Logan had access to both Patton’s, as he was his student for the day, and Remus’ attendance. Patton was in school all day, Remus left after lesson two. There was no nurse’s absence note saying Remus was unwell. “Not Remus, my other brother. Remus offered to take care of him because I had rehearsal at lunch.”

“I had your brother, Patton, today and he’s been in school all day.” Logan mumbled. The one thing he didn’t appreciate from his students was lies. He believed that respect was two-way, and he respected all his students unless they lied in order to skip classes without a valid reason. 

“I have three brothers Sir.” Roman raised an eyebrow. “My smallest brother’s in kindergarten. He’s called Emile.” Logan nodded slowly. So there were four Ray-Felizes: Roman, Remus, Patton and Emile. And Logan had not heard of the other two until today.

“Why don’t you seem to mention them in school? Patton seems like a good student.” Logan chuckled slightly to move on the conversation. Roman only shrugged.

“There’s no real need to mention them. Patton’s more similar to me than Remus and I honestly don’t want teachers to think he’ll act like Remus, and Emile’s only five so by the time he’s in high school you’ll probably be retired.” Roman gave a small smile as I made exaggerated offense noises.

“I’ll let you know I’m only twenty-six. I’ll probably see all you Ray-Felizes through high school before I even think of having my own kids.” Roman laughed, finally packing away his books and walking towards the door. Logan knew he couldn’t keep the children in his classroom for longer than a few minutes unless they had detention because of the school buses.

“See you later Sir.” Roman smiled as he approached the doorframe. Logan nodded and turned towards his laptop to mark a few exam papers before heading home.

“Ah – Roman?” Logan's voice kicked into the natural teacher reaction to a student leaving school due to a family issue. Roman turned and leaned on the doorframe. “Maybe make sure a parent can take Emile home and care for him next time? I wouldn’t want you or your brother’s ‘big brother instinct’ to cause you to drop a grade.” Roman silently nodded and left quickly without giving a response, probably a few minutes late for the school bus.

*****

As Logan drove home his memories replayed his first lesson teaching Roman and Remus. He taught them last year as freshmen as well as this year as sophomores, and they were just as memorable. He always loved freshmen students, middle school maths was usually hard for them so when Logan could increase their confidence and cause their eyes to gleam at a correct worksheet he always left that lesson with a smile. 

The gleam in the students’ eyes are different for each student though. For some students they only smile after a correct question before wanting to focus on the next one, but for others even a correct step can make them smile for the rest of the day. Roman was one of those students. He was always enthusiastically trying to answer questions for the participation points, but in freshmen year his answer was often slightly wrong. But once he answered a question right in front of the class and Logan praised him, he couldn’t stop smiling. He would call himself ‘Mr Crofters’ favourite student’ for the rest of the lesson – and instead of using it as a joke to get the whole class laughing and distracted he seemed to actually think it. He thrived on praise.

Remus however was always a mystery. Logan’s goal with his freshmen was to find what the cause for their eye gleam was, but Remus never had that moment. He tried everything when Remus was a freshman: praise, physical rewards, even letting him mess around a little after he’d done enough of the work. Nothing caused even a smile, and his grades were dropping. Logan reported him to a counsellor and asked him how he was mentally almost every day, but Remus missed all his counsellor appointments and told Logan he was feeling fine and that his home life was alright. Logan tried to allow Remus space while maintaining that he was always a person that Remus could talk to, even mentioning his husband’s mental health issues and how Logan helped him through college, but Remus stayed distant. He was determined that there must be something - anything – to get Remus to smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ray-Feliz is a made up Spanish surname - Ray sounding like the word for royal/king and Feliz being the word for happiness. I think that covers Remus, Roman, Emile and Patton quite well.


	4. Logan the Babysitter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In order to get one of his students to like him Logan offers to babysit. Little did he know that one decision would make his mind wonder about the future of his own family.
> 
> TW - There's a mention of a character being trans and there's a pretty shit teacher. Apart from that it's cute fluff.

On Thursdays Logan eats his lunch in Janus’ classroom. It’s just a little deal they made when Logan started teaching at the high school and became friends with Janus. Janus was older than Logan by a few years, he had reached the ripe old age of thirty, so when Logan joined the teaching staff three years back Janus acted as a sort of mentor. Logan didn’t know if he was allowed to eat in the classrooms at first, which technically he isn’t unless he has a student to take care of, but Janus ignored that rule and allowed Logan to eat in his classroom with him rather than in the canteen with the students or the staff room with at that point complete strangers. And since then they always ate in each other’s classrooms when they didn’t have any responsibilities: they ate in Logan’s room on Mondays and Wednesdays and Janus’ room on Thursdays. Logan’s room was often more empty at lunchtime as Janus’ room was the meeting place of the LGBTQ+ Alliance and the RPG Board Game Club. Logan never knew if they were the same club or separate clubs but they seemed to have the same members.

Janus’ classroom very much fit Janus. He taught in the oldest building of the school, made in the late 1800s which fit the gothic aesthetic. The walls of his classroom were made up completely of bookshelves which meant that Logan could easily steal a book if he was bored marking work in the lunch hour or just wanted to relax. There must have been hundreds to choose from. The desks were in a dark wood design rather than the white design of the newer buildings. Even the electronic whiteboard was black – he wasn’t sure how Janus managed that but he did. The only splash of colour was on the wall beside Janus’ desk: a rainbow flag and a trans flag. Logan also had a rainbow flag in his classroom that stood proudly beside a times tables poster and was also given by Janus. The students didn’t mind their flags and in fact enjoyed them. Janus remembered when he first got the courage to put his trans flag up, expecting to be deadnamed and called Miss, but the students didn’t even seem to change their behaviour around Mr Jackson. 

Logan couldn’t help but inspect the classrooms he walked beside to get to Janus’ room. He appreciated the change between the modern hallways of maths and science to the older architecture of the English rooms. The teachers were either absent from their classroom or doing work, a few students were eating with their favourite teachers or in a club. 

Logan paused just outside Ms Colden’s classroom. Ms Colden was an English teacher and was known to be very strict to bad students. It meant the students got good grades, but Logan always found her attitude towards her students’ imperfections to be excessive. “Mr Ray-Feliz we both know your attendance is horrendous.” Ms Colden almost shouted at the familiar neon green wearing sophomore from his classes. Remus held his head down. “I need you to attend after-classes to get this coursework done otherwise you’ll never pass this class! I don’t want you to retake sophomore year.” Remus nodded again before speaking.

“I have to take care of my little brother. Roman’s at a science revision session and Patton’s at a birthday party.”

“Do you want to fail? You need this coursework done by next week.” Remus stepped back slightly, the words obviously hurting. Ms Colden scowled before seeing Logan at her door. “Mr Crofters, can I help you?” She spat, obviously angry that she was interrupted.

“Um… When’s this after-class?” Logan said as he stepped into the classroom. Remus looked over while Logan stood next to him and then back at Ms Colden.

“Only around forty minutes after school ends. Starts at 3:05pm ends at 3:45pm.” Ms Colden typed on her computer, Logan wasn’t sure about what, either noting that Remus couldn’t attend the after school class or a note to avoid talking down to a student on Thursday lunchtimes. 

“Well,” Logan knelt slightly to be face to face with Remus and got quieter. “I can take care of Emile while you attend this class and then you can just do an extra fifteen minutes of revision work with me afterwards to make up for it so it reaches the hour.”

Remus looked surprised. His mouth cracked slowly into a smile and his eyes expanded. “Wait really? I can pay you – I have ten dollars in my pocket.” Remus searched through his pocket but Logan stopped him.

“Having you focus on your studies is enough.” Logan said gently. Then it finally happened, Remus’ eyes glowed with happiness, his dark eyeshadow he wore to school every day somehow seeming lighter. He felt as though Remus would jump on him for a hug at any moment, he was just so happy. That was the key, accommodation. Remus must have finally seen that people can sympathise with his life. Logan stood and explained the deal with Ms Colden, and she grudgingly agreed.

“Mr Crofters has been very nice with this offer Mr Ray-Feliz. If you skip this I’ll have no problem putting you down for exclusion.” Remus nodded again, but still happier. Ms Colden let him go to lunch and he pretty much ran down the corridor to a figure of his twin brother Roman in the distance. When Remus and Roman looked up Logan was leaving Ms Colden’s classroom, and gave them a small smile.

*****

Logan took a deep breath letting his senior class pack up to get home. Most students didn’t have the energy to chat after class which Logan was grateful for. Logan closed his laptop and checked under his desk for the children’s books and toys he stole from Janus’ car – Janus had a lot of nieces and nephews he liked to babysit. Unfortunately it wasn’t a smooth exit from the class, there were a few students who wanted to talk about the validity of hyperbolic functions in a 3D atmosphere.

“I mean it’s certainly a complex thought isn’t it?” Logan mumbled just as he spotted a young, very young, child knocking on his classroom door. He was definitely a Ray-Feliz, with the dark blond curly hair and huge glasses much like Patton’s along with Roman’s tanned skin and Remus’ freckles. He held an extremely scared glance being all alone, making Logan soften his voice automatically; Remus must have already run off to Ms Colden’s classroom. “Emile, come here kiddo, I have a few games for you.”

“You have a kid Sir?” One of the students almost screamed in cuteness while Logan got a puzzle out his drawer and gave it to Emile. “He’s a cutie!”

“I’m just taking care of him.” Logan smiled at his students but they still didn’t see a need to leave, they were watching Emile attentively as he got all the puzzle pieces on a desk and started solving the puzzle quietly sucking his thumb. That was the curse of having a senior class last period, they almost always had their own car so if they wanted to talk about something they would willingly stay for hours to chat even if you wanted to go home. He loved the enthusiasm but not at the end of the school day. “Now, I would love to talk more about hyperbolics but I have a few emails to attend to, and don’t you all have college applications to attend to?” The students nodded and began to leave, waving at Emile as they went and Emile waved back.

“Are they adults Sir?” Emile chirped looking at Logan for a second. Logan smirked and laughed a little, his heart almost exploding at such a little voice calling him Sir – he’d gotten so used to it only being said by high schoolers.

“Not exactly, they’re still my students.” Emile nodded and continued his puzzle, Logan honestly thought he had found the cutest little kid. “You’ll be their age in no time kid, and maybe I’ll teach you then too hm? Like I teach your brothers.” Emile giggled and nodded, causing a silence again. Logan focused on his work, he had told Virgil he was staying late for some after school classes so he should at least look like he’s done work.

For a moment he imagined being in his and Virgil’s house and doing work. He imagined having a child, around Emile’s age, that he could say was his and Virgil’s. It seemed a little strange, he and Virgil still viewed themselves as recently graduated college – they weren’t adults yet. Were they? Still, he could imagine a child of his own doing puzzles next to him, maybe with Virgil next to them helping and Remy meowing at their feet. As he watched Emile solve the puzzle alone he could imagine Virgil laughing, saying “Lo! Look at our kid!”, or “let’s have a family movie night before kiddo’s bedtime.” Logan had never thought so deeply of the word family before, it was just his husband and his cat – and that made them happy. But was that his family? Was that the family he wanted?

“Mr C – I’ve done.” Emile mumbled getting Logan out his thoughts. Mr C – a name he’d never been called – let alone by a small child. Logan smiled and turned towards Emile.

“Well done kiddo. I have more games for you – or books – do you like books?”

“I have books?” Emile squeaked, walking over and standing beside Logan. “I thought books were just for big people like my brothers.” Logan raised an eyebrow and smirked, getting out a random book named ‘Big Bear goes to the Park’. 

“Books are for everyone! Should I read to you?” Emile looked even more confused, staring at Logan as if no-one had ever offered to read to him before. His thumb was still stuck in his mouth as he glanced at the book Logan held. “You can read the book yourself if you want to.” Emile shook his head and sat at the desk again. Logan moved his chair opposite the desk and began to read, letting the idea of having his own kid go to the back of his mind. He wasn’t even thirty, there was no need to rush Virgil or himself into making decisions.

After a few more books were read there was another knock at the door. Emile immediately perked up and ran to Remus with open arms. Remus picked him up mid laugh and swung him slightly. “Thanks so much for taking care of him Sir.” Remus smiled at Logan, a small smile but still with more emotion than Logan had ever seen before this day. “You said you wanted me to do some work here too?”

“Yes.” Logan said shortly, the joy he felt inside while entertaining the five year old quickly disappearing but being replaced with the joy he held as a teacher. “Just sit at a desk and I’ll get you some questions to work through, I won’t keep you past four.” He grabbed some sheets before smiling at Emile. “Emile can you get some puzzles out and work through them quietly?” Emile nodded and ran to the drawer full of children toys and sat at the back of the classroom to play. 

Logan sat opposite Remus and helped him step by step through the questions. The questions were ones he missed or got incorrect the last few lessons as well as a few he was planning on teaching the class the following week so that Remus got a little confidence feeling like he was ahead. Remus smiled throughout, trying to talk through what he was doing and was overall a more attentive student than he was previously. He could finally tell Remus was trying his hardest. Not that the work was completely undisturbed, Emile seemed to like the praise and attention he got earlier so every so often he’d announce he’d found a piece of the puzzle or he’d finished the puzzle or ask for a book to be read to him. Eventually they just settled with Emile sitting on Remus’ lap as he worked and watched the maths that Logan was teaching. Emile didn’t understand it of course, but he’d happily shout out an answer once Remus had written it down thinking he was helping.

Once four o’clock reached and Remus and Emile went home Logan finally sighed and collapsed on his desk chair. The only thing he could think of was kids. Both his kids as in the kids he taught and his kids as in his future kids. Could he handle it? Was he good at taking care of Emile or was he too teacher like? Would he have to babysit Emile again? Would the word get out he cared for a student’s little brother and he’d become the babysitting teacher rather than a maths teacher? Would his students take him less seriously if they knew he absolutely loved babysitting that kid?

Logan let all his questions go to the back of his head again. He didn’t want to bother Virgil about it so suddenly. Virgil definitely wasn’t ready yet; sure both him and his husband were the same age but Virgil was much less sure of his career path. Virgil majored in English and Media and loved it, but also loved the coffee shop job he’d had since high school. He managed to balance both the coffee shop and the editorial job he got once he graduated university but he hated making decisions. Whenever a family member or friend would ask him whether he could choose one job, which was a popular question as Virgil worked a lot of hours at both jobs, he’d enter a panic and need calming. Having a kid would definitely require Virgil to reduce his hours at work and possibly abandon one job and Logan knew Virgil couldn’t manage that right now. Maybe once they reach thirty, Logan kept telling himself, then Logan can mention it and plant the seed in Virgil’s mind. Those four years would also allow Logan to decide if he actually wanted to take that path – as one hour babysitting was not an adequate reason to change his entire lifestyle and priorities in life.


	5. The Performance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan attends the Twelfth Night performance as he promised Roman, causing a lot of emotions to come forward in the young student.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you call them drama teachers in America? I know you have theatre teachers - but do you have drama ones? Also do your teachers actually go to assemblies with you or is that a British thing?

Logan watched the clock patiently the entirety of Friday afternoon. He didn’t have any classes to teach, Friday afternoons for him were fully devoted to planning periods. That’s why he promised Virgil he wouldn’t work outside the high school on Friday. He hadn’t told Virgil that he had two planning periods every Friday which allowed him to do all the work he needed to do. These two periods however were too distracting. It was finally the day he promised Roman Ray-Feliz he’d see the rehearsal for Twelfth Night. What if he walked in only for his fellow staff members to say he wasn’t allowed? He would have broken a promise he gave a student, a student that influenced another to be more open. If he couldn’t attend this rehearsal he’d be back at step one with the Ray-Feliz twins. 

The last school bell of the day rang. Students were always louder on Fridays especially as it approached the weekend. They were practically screaming down the corridors while Logan watched them unsure whether he should brave the crowds and arrive at the theatre the same time as the students. Students were expected to go to the theatre straight after classes to get into their costumes while the teachers and audience members could wait a few minutes to arrive. Janus promised to collect Logan from the classroom when the teachers were meant to arrive but Logan couldn’t help but wonder if he should arrive at the theatre early and wish Roman good luck before the performance. But Logan knew that kind of thing was a parent thing, not a teacher thing. Roman’s parents were probably doing that.

“Hey! Mr Daydream to Sanders Academy High…” Logan eventually got out of his thoughts to realise Janus stood in front of him with his arms crossed. “Finally got you functioning. You haven’t been that in dream world since your first Finals season.” Janus laughed as Logan rolled his eyes and packed away his things. “You ready to see your son at the performance?”

“Son?” Logan snapped looking at Janus again. Janus burst out laughing.

“You don’t think I heard the latest tea? Apparently to Miss Ferron when she left school yesterday she saw Remus and his little brother walking back home from school and the little kid said – and I quote – ‘I like Mr C, he’s a better daddy than other daddy’!” Janus burst out laughing again and Logan could feel his cheeks heat up slightly. Reading books to Emile was too far away from teacher zone and too much in parent zone, he knew that, but he couldn't help it.

“As you keep on saying I would sacrifice my last day for my students, and that babysitting was just one of those situations. It does not mean I’m adopting children from them.” Janus eventually stopped laughing and just smirked, his glance challenging the truthfulness of that statement. “Anyway, are we going to the performance or not?”

It was the first time Logan had seen the theatre virtually empty. Not that he was in the theatre that often, it was the drama and music departments' main habitat and English teachers once in a blue moon decided to have a lesson there when children were learning about Shakespeare or other playwrights. Maths teachers, however, were the opposite side of the spectrum. Most of them had only been there once or twice in their entire teaching career if they had to be responsible for an assembly. Logan followed Janus to the stage, where the drama teachers were discussing something Logan had no idea about to the backstage crew. Logan saw no reason to join into the conversation so just sat in one of the audience chairs and waited for the performance to start. Students started filtering out eventually, a few that Logan taught waved at him but the students mostly stayed on the stage and practiced their lines together ignoring as parents piled into the audience. 

“Shit, we have a problem Logan.” Janus walked over and whispered, leaning forward. “They’ve labelled the seats, and there’s no seat for you with the drama staff.” Fear immediately came into Logan’s thoughts. They were about to disallow him from watching the performance and Roman still hadn’t come to front stage to see his teacher there. If he had to leave now Roman would think he never showed, and that would be detrimental to their trust. Janus must have recognised the fear in Logan’s face, seemed quite surprised by it, and quickly tried to calm the situation. “I’ll see what I can do bud.”

Janus ran to the lower stage again to talk to the drama staff. The head of the drama department, Miss Ferron, looked through papers and registers in front of her quickly, looking back at Logan every few minutes. It seemed like she knew just how important seeing Mr Crofters in the audience would be to Roman. Eventually she made her way to where Logan was now stood like a deer in headlights. “Right, Mr Crofters, would you mind sitting in Mrs Ray-Feliz’s seat? She gave no definite response to whether she was coming and – let’s say Roman’s not too hopeful she’ll actually show seeing her track record with these things. Are you alright sitting with the families?”

“Of course I am, thank you.” Logan smiled and let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Janus chuckled a little watching his friend enter seats surrounded by people much older than him who were excitedly waiting for their little angels.

“Ah – Are you Roman’s father?” A woman next to Logan smiled as the lights started to darken. Logan knew he should say yes to avoid an awkward conversation or outing Roman’s parents as a no show but he also knew he had to say no – otherwise the lie would be taken the wrong way both by the public and by his fellow gossiping teaching staff. “My daughter’s playing Olivia – she says your son is very charismatic – what does he play again? Something like Sir…”

“Sir Andrew Aguecheek.” Logan interrupted. For a maths teacher Logan knew Shakespeare quite well and had heard Roman reciting his lines in the school corridor before classes so could guess the character Roman had been cast as. Not that Roman had to act out the character that much. Sir Andrew Aguecheek was one of Olivia’s suitors and had a lot of self-confidence that in some senses was undeserved. It was the role Logan expected of his student. “And he’s just one of my students – I’m a maths teacher here. I came to see him in his ‘zone’.”

The mother awkwardly nodded and didn’t ask more. The performance began. It obviously needed some fine tuning, some students were off script while some still held the script in front of them, there were a few line mix ups that were solved by Miss Ferron or Janus, and a few unprojected voices especially from the new freshmen. The script wasn’t exactly accurate at some parts which slightly aggravated the perfectionist Logan – but he knew that there needed to be a lot of extra roles added and some controversial lines (mainly about alcohol consumption) cut out. One bit that made Logan laugh, although it shouldn’t, was an added ‘drinking scene’ where the freshman centre stage loudly asked a teacher “shouldn’t these have water in these Miss?” and when the teacher quietly explained they weren’t full for the dress rehearsal a senior student whispered: “I say we put in vodka.” The parents laughed at the off-script joke but eventually the students got back to the play.

It reached Roman’s scene eventually and Logan already knew he’d be a natural. He jumped around the stage to engage the audience, pulled a joke or two that Logan couldn’t tell was in the script or ad-libbed, and was overall one of the best actors. His performance seemed to captivate a hell of a lot more than even the older students. Janus told him to expect as much anyway, but there was one small part that Logan didn’t expect – Roman lost his character for a second. He did a spin while he said his final line, making eye contact with the audience and was about to do a bow when he paused mid-movement. Roman’s eyes met the eyes of Mr Crofters and he choked on his words, silencing for a moment. The drama teachers stood and were about to enter the stage but Roman quickly composed himself, finished his performance, and left stage right. 

The teachers seemed shocked at that small mess up of the line. Janus had always said Roman never messed up a line once he went off script. Logan swore that if that kid didn’t get accepted to Julliard he would write a very strongly letter to the board of education.

When the performance finished Logan approached the rest of the teachers again. “You enjoy it?” Janus laughed as he was reunited with his teacher friend. “I think you threw Roman off the loop when he saw you.”

“Is he alright?” Logan said attentively before he heard a familiar ‘Mr Crofters!’. 

“Sir!” Roman shouted, running up to Logan. There was an exit where students were instructed to meet their parents, but Roman must have run straight back into the theatre just to see his maths teacher. “You actually came?” When Roman approached Logan couldn’t help but be taken aback. Roman’s eyes were usually a blue hazel and were cheery, like Roman had never cried in his life. This time they were tear filled, bloodshot, and markings were left on his cheeks from where previous tears were. Logan being there must have really affected him.

“Of course I came – I promised you didn’t I?” Logan laughed through his shock. Roman still looked surprised and about to cry every sound Logan made.

“I thought teachers don’t keep promises…” Roman almost started crying again so instead brought his arms around Logan’s waist and started a hug. Logan flinched slightly but ruffled Roman’s hair in response, Roman holding onto his teacher with no notice of when he’d let go. He could feel the tears enter his black button up shirt. 

Roman still didn’t stop the hug when his brothers also ran into the theatre. “Come on Ro-Bee we gotta go.” Patton approached first but Roman didn’t even look. Patton acknowledged the maths teacher in front of him and then spoke to his brother again. “Hey Sir – But c’mon Ro it’s past Emile’s bedtime.” Remus also gave a smile and he approached, slightly slower than his younger brother as he was holding a very sleepy Emile. Roman eventually stepped away from Logan, wiping his eyes and smiling again.

“You did a very good performance Roman, I’m sure Julliard is waiting for you.” Roman lost his smile a little at that but regained it and looked back at his brothers. He took Emile in his arms.

“That’s impossible Sir, but thank you.” The Ray-Feliz brothers than waved and left the theatre. Logan sighed, knowing Julliard was very possible for Roman if he wanted it. Maybe he meant financially, but Logan felt like that wasn’t an obstacle either. When Roman reached senior year he would make sure Roman got that place or a place at another well-known drama school. God, Logan would pay for his entire education if it came to that. He felt a weird pride in watching Roman succeed.


	6. Kids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan and Virgil have a small discussion about kids in bed, while the Ray-Felizes continue their everyday life.
> 
> TW - Mention of alcohol abuse, insomnia and needles. There is also slight depressive habits. I try to keep it fluffy though.

Logan and Virgil still lay in bed together on Sunday afternoon, Virgil cuddled up against Logan’s chest with Logan’s arm around his shoulders. They watched TV together with Remy in a ball at the end of the bed. Virgil didn’t have any work that day, the coffee shop was closed on Sundays and Virgil’s boss had cancelled their meetings at the editing firm because their two kids had caught a fever. “It’s good we don’t have to deal with that.” Virgil laughed telling Logan the reason he wasn’t at work, watching his fingers slowly intertwine with Logan’s and feeling his warmth. “I can’t imagine you missing a day of work even for your own spawn.”

“You know that’s a falsehood.” Logan murmured, his eyes also on the hand that held Virgil’s. “Our – spawn – would be a mix of you and me. And you know I value anything to do with you more than the whole world.” Logan leaned over and kissed Virgil’s forehead, and Virgil smiled wide.

“So, it would be like if Remy’s sick?” Virgil asked, nudging the mass of fur at the end of their bed which only grumbled half asleep as a response. “Is this your way of saying you want kids?” Virgil and Logan met eyes, their noses touching, and Logan thought for a moment of what to say. 

“Well I think I do in the future. There’s no need to work on it now, we’re too young for all that, we have time.” Virgil looked to the hand he held again, his mind in thought. This conversation was a new territory for both of them. These small moments staying in bed in their pyjamas until 2pm just chatting were already rare; having a small human would make them rarer – or maybe get rid of them completely. “I don’t want it to plague your mind. There will be a time when it feels like you’re ready for the next step, and even if that doesn’t happen we could always foster as a kind of practice to see if it’s right for us.”

Virgil slowly nodded, closing his eyes and nuzzling into Logan’s neck. “Why have you stayed late this week?” Virgil whispered kissing Logan’s neck. “I missed you a lot.”

“Just… work.” Logan smiled at the kiss and leaned in closer to his husband. He didn’t feel like explaining everything while in bed and cuddling. This was a moment to fully focus on his amazing husband and making him the happiest man in the world. Virgil nuzzled Logan’s neck.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this but couldn’t it have been work you take home? Especially Thursday and Friday – they seemed so last minute.” Virgil leaned on top of Logan and kissed him before letting him answer. 

“I – I couldn’t on Thursday and Friday. I had to be in school for it. It’s a long story.” Virgil raised his eyebrow and positioned himself slightly on top of Logan so he could easily face him.

“We have time.”

Logan sighed and nuzzled Virgil again. “Well, there’s these two sophomore students I really like. On Thursday I made a deal with one of them to take care of his little brother while he attended after school classes and on Friday I saw the other student’s dress rehearsal.” Virgil raised an eyebrow, possibly expecting Logan to say more, but he kissed him to signify the story was finished.

“So you were babysitting Sherlock?” Virgil giggled. “How old was this little brother then?”

“Oh, around five.” Virgil laughed louder and held onto Logan tighter. “And yes, he was really cute. And yes, that’s the reason I want kids with you in a few years.”

“You… A fucking… babysitter!” Virgil choked on his laughter, falling off Logan’s chest onto the bed beside him with his face becoming red. Logan must admit Virgil’s laughter was an adorable sight. Logan just held his husband with all the love in the world not wanting this moment to end. “I would pay to see that! You probably taught that kid quadratics or something!” Logan rolled his eyes, quieting Virgil again with a long, passionate kiss. “Mph… So you’re saying you actually didn’t bore the kid if it made you want your own?” Logan nodded, kissing Virgil’s forehead. Virgil smiled slightly and there was silence for a few minutes.

“Give me three more years of just you.” Virgil whispered, stroking Logan’s cheek. Logan nodded. “And if we go down the genetic route they better have your blue eyes. I love them.” He giggled, allowing himself to be fully engulfed in Logan’s heat and close his eyes.

*****

“Is Mommy still sleeping?” Emile asked, looking up from his toy train set when his older brother, Roman, shut the door to his mother’s bedroom. Roman only nodded, the smile appearing on his face after a short minute. “Can I wake her up to show her my train tracks?” Roman quickly shook his head and sat down with Emile.

“Mommy’s still having her juice – you have to leave her be.” Only Roman, Remus and Patton knew what exactly Mommy’s juice was, but they wouldn’t dare infect Emile with that knowledge at such a small age. Emile deserved the childhood his brothers managed to have before everything went downhill.

Remus walked over after inspecting the floor for needles. He sighed and sat next to his twin brother on the floor, utterly exhausted. Remus never enjoyed night-time, he just could never sleep and he didn’t know a reason why. He leant on his brother’s shoulder, yawned and closed his eyes for a few minutes. He took the chance to nap whenever possible, which was usually weekends. 

“RO-BEE, RE-BOW!” Patton shouted from another room the childish nicknames he made up for his older brothers when he was in kindergarten. Remus jumped awake and rubbed his eyes. “WHAT’S CONDENSATION?”

“COME DO YOUR WORK HERE PAT!” Roman shouted to the room Patton’s voice came from. He didn’t have to worry about disturbing his mother with the shouting, she wouldn’t pay any notice to what they were doing anyway. The only problem he had with shouting was his twin brother. “Take a nap upstairs Re-Re. You need it.” He whispered, nudging his brother with his shoulder.

Remus shook his head. “Whenever I go to our bedroom I can’t sleep.” Remus yawned, still leaning on Roman’s shoulder. “Something’s wrong with me Ro – I feel like I’m going insane.” Remus’ voice was quiet so not to alarm his youngest brother playing beside them, but the words spoken still reached Roman clearly and they hurt. “I should ask Mr Crofters to appoint me to the school counsellor again since we know he’ll take care of Em…” A yawn interrupted what he was saying. “I just need something.”

“Well we don’t know if the school counsellor would require payment for more than one session – and you definitely need more than one session.” Roman immediately toughened up. Patton walked in asking for help with his science homework. “Maybe go get a snack or something. You didn’t make yourself breakfast this morning.”

“We don’t have anything left. I’ll take Emmy for a walk to the food bank at five…” Remus was obviously struggling to keep his eyes open as he spoke. Roman worked through the science homework with Patton. “I honestly think if we explain this to Mr Crofters he’ll happily pay for my counselling sessions.”

“You really want to be seen as this in high school Re? We can’t risk our mother’s ‘absence’ getting out and you know that.” Roman snapped, drawing diagrams and teaching Patton from a scrap bit of his own science workbook. “I’ll go to the food bank. Please just go upstairs and try to sleep.”

“I think getting help is more important than your social standing drama queen.” Remus scowled but stood wiping his eyes again. Roman rolled his eyes.

“It’s not that. School’s a nice escape – to pretend our family situation’s the same as it was five years back.” Roman looked up and smiled sadly at his twin brother. His voice went quieter as he spoke. “And you know what life would be like if we’re taken from here. No sane foster carer or adopter would take four traumatised troubled mostly teenage boys.”

“Please?” Was the only response Remus could give, his voice quaking as he looked at the floor. Roman sighed and nodded.

“We tell only Mr Crofters – he cannot tell anyone else.”


	7. Talking to Teacher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman and Remus meet their favourite teacher, Mr Crofters, at lunch time to discuss school and home life.
> 
> TW - Premature babies, mention of alcohol and drug abuse, mention of car accidents and death, mention of depressive thoughts/habits and counselling.

Logan started his Monday with his freshman class. “Gabrielle please take your seat we have lots of work today…” Logan mumbled as he looked through his books and papers for his notes on this lesson plan. The kids eventually settled until there was a knock on the classroom door. “Remus, Roman – Shouldn’t you be getting to class?”

“We need to talk to you Sir.” Remus said quickly, stood in front of Roman and leaning on the open door.

“I have your class tomorrow you can ask your questions then.” Logan smiled at the twins but that didn’t get rid of their nervous faces and they didn’t move away. “Um… Have a read of page twenty two and attempt the questions from last lesson.” Logan nodded to his class, dropping the worksheets he was about to hand out onto his desk and taking Remus and Roman to the hallway. “You know you can’t disturb a teacher’s teaching – is it maths related?” Roman and Remus shook their heads, still nervous. “I also can’t babysit Emile in school hours but if you need to take him here after scho-“

“We just need to talk – about life – with you.” Remus interrupted and Logan’s face became confused. “Can you not just get a cover teacher or something and we can talk to you?”

“Of course I can’t Remus I’m getting paid…” Logan sighed, inspecting his class once he heard the noise pick up so they silenced. “Can it wait until lunch?” Reluctantly the twins nodded and looked sadly at the floor. “It’s alright. I’ll message your teachers and excuse your lateness. Just come to my room at lunchtime.”

The twins separated to go to their separate lessons. Logan sighed, quickly texting Janus that he had a few children in his classroom for lunch so they couldn’t eat together. Janus quickly responded, he was either in a planning period or came in that day with a blatant disregard of school staff behaviour, saying that was fine. Logan then entered his classroom and started teaching.

*****

Roman and Remus knocked at the door as Logan got his premade lunch out of his bag. He smiled and sat out two chairs by Logan’s desk for the two of them to sit on. “Did you bring lunch you two?” The twins raised an eyebrow and shook their heads, making Logan remember students weren’t allowed to bring canteen food to classrooms. Usually if the students didn’t have a packed lunch the teachers would have the decency to only keep them for a few minutes, but Logan wanted to give as much time as possible to allow his sophomores to chat. “Right… Any dietary requirements?” The twins shook their heads before they realised their teacher bringing out his wallet.

“You’re getting food for us? We can pay.” Roman chirped looking through his pockets for cash. 

“Don’t be silly. I’ll just get you both a pasta dish from the staffroom.” Logan smiled, getting out enough money to buy two pasta meals from the staff canteen. “Just stay here and don’t destroy the classroom.” The twins nodded, Logan left, and the two students were alone.

“Promise me this is a good idea bro?” Roman sighed and looked over at his brother. Remus fiddled with his fingers nervously but nodded. “You sure?” Remus nodded again, watching the door and smiling at the few students that recognised them in Mr Crofters’ classroom as if nothing was unusual. “If he reports us and we get in trouble with mom – you’re taking the trash out.”

“Should I shut the door boys?” Logan said as he walked into the classroom with two tomato and cheese pastas. The twins nodded and were given their lunch. Logan closed the door and put on a sign saying there was a test going on in the classroom before speaking. It was a rule for students to not disturb a teacher that was in an exam room. “What did you need to talk about?”

Slowly Remus and Roman unloaded their life. They explained how they were born into a good family with two loving parents and no need to worry about cash and it stayed that way until they started middle school. Emile was born premature, projected to be too small to live, and that caused a stress on their father. Their father was more absent from their life even when Emile was brought home as a healthy baby, resulting in their father’s early death via a car accident just after Emile turned three. The death then had a knock on effect on their mother who resorted to drug and alcohol addiction to get through each day. Roman and Remus had to resort to raising Emile themselves along with their younger brother Patton, who could help out with some things like cleaning the house but mostly liked focusing on school as an escape. And they didn’t want Patton to get too involved, he wasn’t even fourteen and still held the innocence of an elementary student with some topics. The twins were very protective of both their brothers.

“And I can’t take it anymore…” Remus interrupted the story to say. “Ever since we entered high school I’ve just always felt upset and tired and I can’t even focus…” Remus was looking at his pasta, he had only eaten half of it and was just picking up and dropping pieces of pasta while he spoke. He finally made eye contact with Logan to plea. “I need help Sir – we need help.”

Logan sighed in thought. Students had unloaded mental problems and home troubles to him before, plenty of times, and he often managed to keep his composure in front of the students. In bad cases Logan would sometimes have to talk to Janus or Virgil about it to unload the information onto someone else to share. This time it was different though, maybe because Logan really liked these two sophomores, but he felt as though he just wanted to hug these kids and shelter them. He was fighting against his emotions to keep them at bay.

“I need to report your home life to the school…” Logan mumbled, turning to his laptop to contain himself as he started typing. Roman immediately gasped and put the screen of his laptop down to stop him typing. “Roman what-“

“Please don’t Sir. Getting more people involved would just make everything worse.” Logan sighed, looking at his closed laptop and then at his student. “We’re safe. Remus just needs help with his emotions.”

Logan opened his laptop again and Roman sat, watching Logan’s every action like a scared cat. “I’ll report Remus to counselling – can I say it’s high school stress?” Remus and Roman nodded and Logan typed the email. 

“Thanks for letting us talk to you Sir.” Remus mumbled, looking at his teacher in thought. Logan sent the email and smiled at the boys, letting them surprise him one more time. “Can we give you a hug Sir?”

Logan chuckled. “Sure – both of you can. Just remember to let go.” Logan stood and walked over to the twins and they immediately grasped their arms around Logan. Logan leant down and hugged them back, holding them close for a minute, making sure they knew they were safe. Part of Remus’ black eyeshadow landed on Logan’s shirt once the three separated as the school bell rang. But Logan must admit he felt as though he could stay hugging them forever and sheltering them from the world they experienced outside of his care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter had a lot of triggers - I tried to not delve too far into it but tell me if there's anything else there that's triggering.


	8. Changed Locks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a peaceful Christmas, Logan gets the scare of his life when he actually sees the life two of his students live.
> 
> TW - Mention of alcohol and needles, mention of parental neglect and abandonment (if there are more just say).

The weeks came and went quite uneventfully. Remus started school counselling, Logan had managed to make it completely free for him as he could prove he came from a low income household, and the Christmas holidays began and ended. 

Christmas was the same in Logan’s household as it usually was. On some years he and his husband travelled to the UK over the holiday period so Logan could visit his parents but this year wasn’t one of those years. Instead Logan and his husband woke up late on Christmas Day, watched Nightmare Before Christmas while having breakfast in bed, exchanged presents they bought for each other, spoiled Remy with new toys he’d be too lazy to use and expensive cat food he’d finish within the week, watch another Christmas movie that was shown on TV, Virgil’s family would then visit for Christmas dinner and board games, and to end the evening Logan would video call his parents with Virgil while the clock reached midnight of Boxing Day. Both sets of parents gave the questions that parents usually do: how the jobs were, were they still as in love as when they were in college, were there any grandchildren for them for the next year. They didn’t mention that they were ‘thinking about it’ during the grandchildren question, there was no reason to excite them if they already knew they won’t start taking action towards it for a while. 

It was still freezing when Logan started work again in early January. The first day back was absolute chaos as usual but a few weeks in the students got back into the flow of listening and reading and writing and worksheets and learning. Logan walked towards his car Thursday evening, the rain creating a rhythm to his steps, letting a yawn escape him as he checked the time. Almost 4pm, he hadn’t had much work to do so thought it would be better to work at home cuddling up to his husband.

Logan sat in his car and turned on the radio, letting his car heat up before he’d start driving home. In reality he didn’t need to bring his car to work everyday, it would probably only take half an hour for Logan to walk home but on cold days like these he was thankful he did bring his car to warm up in. He was about to change gear when he heard a frantic knocking at the passenger window. It made him flinch and turn his head to see Roman and Remus, petrified, just outside his car in their large coats. Logan got out the car without even a thought otherwise. “Roman – Remus – what’s wrong?”

“We’ve been locked out and we have no idea what to do!” Roman almost screamed running closer to Logan. Logan almost scowled, kids losing their house keys was a popular problem but they rarely went to him for advice on it – usually the front desk solved those issues.

“Take steady breaths – Where did you last see your keys?” Logan said calmly, honestly on autopilot as he was tired and just wanted to hug his husband. 

“We have them here Sir – but none of them work.” Roman and Remus showed Logan identical silver keys, the one Roman held had a Gryffindor keyring while Remus’ had a Slytherin keyring and a whistle for some reason. He inspected the keys for any faults but they seemed in perfect condition.

“Where are your brothers?”

“They’re still outside the house, they can’t get in either with Patton’s keys. Can you please help us Sir?” Logan thought only for a moment before nodding and opening the doors to his car. 

“Give me directions.” He said simply as he kept his eyes on the road ahead. Roman sat in the front and Remus in the back, Logan listened to the directions given and after a five minute drive he arrived at a dark and dreary house in the same cul-de-sac Logan lived in with his husband. It was a house like any other, the grass around it was medium length and the outside was relatively clean. The only stark feature was the middle schooler sitting on the porch cradling the crying five year old in his arms. The rain had become aggressive during the drive to this house and thunder was predicted to start soon. Logan got out his car and went to the porch. “Are you sure you’ve tried all the keys?”

“Several times.” Patton mumbled as Emile was taken from him and held in the arms of Roman. Logan gestured to try all the keys again and he was given them, but as the boys said, none of them worked. “What will happen if we can’t get in Sir?”

“Police will take care of you.” Logan mumbled, then deciding to knock loudly on the door and shout. “Hello! This is a teacher of Sanders Academy High School and I command you open this door!” Logan knew he had no authority as just a maths teacher, but it was worth a shot. There was no response though, no footsteps were heard. Remus and Roman peered through the windows and shouted.

“Everything’s gone!” Logan walked over curiously. “The house is empty – everything that belonged to us at least – what do we do Mr Crofters?” Logan also peered through the window to what he assumed was the living room. All the lights were off but the room was barren, there were two broken sofas and a broken television, those were supplied by the housing company when a new household moved in but had obviously been destroyed. There were needles and alcohol bottles on the floor and no sign of any toys for Emile. “Emmy used to have a train track set in there… Shit…” On normal circumstances Logan would tell off a student for swearing while he was responsible for them but the swear word was understandable in this case. Logan stepped away from the window and called the police.

Around an hour and a half later Logan sat in the polices’ office, honestly scared. His mind just couldn’t escape from what those boys were thinking, they were pretty much homeless. When the police managed to force entry by breaking the door lock (that was also blocked too as well as the lock changed from the keys – showing how much the boys’ mother wouldn’t allow them in the house), they saw the state of the house and understandably started filing a neglect case for Mrs Ray-Feliz as well as plenty of other charges. He could remember Roman and Remus’ tears ringing his ears, swearing at each other that they never wanted such a thing to happen. And here they were, about to be interviewed like Logan was.

“Mr Crofters – is it?” The police officer asked as he walked into the room. Logan nodded. “What relation are you to the Ray-Feliz boys?”

“I’m the maths teacher of Roman and Remus at Sanders Academy High School. They’re in my sophomore class and I teach them Algebra and Geometry – they told me about their home life before Christmas but this was the first time I actually saw it in person…” Logan started rambling with any information he could give. He needed to make sure these kids were safe.

“Teacher would do.” The officer said displeased, writing notes on a small notepad. Logan had to remember to take deep breaths, he had never been in a police station before let alone be interviewed for his presence at a real life crime scene. “Are all your safety documents up to date?”

“Oh, yes, I redo my safety checks every summer so they don’t run out. So my last check was August last year.” The officer nodded again and Logan relaxed a little. They knew he was safe for the kids and wanted the best for them.

“How much room is in your house?”

“Um… I live in a two bedroom house with my husband and cat, why?”

“All the boys have requested to live with you until their mother is located. Does that sound like a possible solution?” Logan nodded before actually thinking about his answer. The spare bedroom had a double bed that could become two single beds, so two of the boys could sleep there – the sofa also became a bed when situation could call for it as they had plenty of blankets – same with the loveseat in Logan’s study.

“I’ll have to ask my husband.” Logan said quickly once he realised he nodded. “He gets very nervous at unpredicted situations.”

As if on cue Virgil burst through the door into the interviewing room petrified. “Logan what the fuck?” He screamed, running to Logan and holding him in a hug ignoring the mid-interview police officer. “What happened? Why are you here? You were meant to be home at 4pm and it’s almost 6pm and then I got a call from the POLICE about you?”

The police officer cleared his throat silencing Virgil in a millisecond. “Your husband’s not in trouble, he’s just got involved in some police work involving his students. We are just requesting that he takes care of them while we find a more suitable placement.”

“Are they criminals?” Virgil gasped, holding tightly on his husband. The officer shook his head.

“Case of neglect. I cannot give more details.”

Logan watched his husband’s face slowly pale. He stroked his knuckles but that didn’t help Virgil’s panic. His whole world was turning upside down. A kiss on the cheek still didn’t work. “Honey… It would be alright…”

“How many? What ages? How long?”

“Roman and Remus are my students and they’re fifteen. Patton’s in his last year of middle school and has just turned fourteen over Christmas break and Emile’s the kid I babysat after classes that one time and he’s five. Just the four of them. And how long…” Logan looked over at the officer for a rough time frame.

“As long as it takes.”

“So indefinitely?” Virgil chirped, stroking Logan’s hand to slightly reassure him. It’s a good thing the officer allowed gay cuddles or Virgil would be spiralling into a panic attack. It was obvious Virgil was in deep thought, probably calculating eventualities. He looked at Logan, analysing his facial expression. And if Logan was being honest with himself he did really want to let them stay with him. If they were in police care or even the care of another staff member at the school Logan would constantly worry, as a good teacher would, that they weren’t happy with said caregiver. At least under his care Logan can make sure they’re happy. “Yes… We’ll take them…” Virgil eventually smiled, holding Logan’s hand tight. Logan swore Virgil could read his mind. Virgil kissed his forehead and whispered. “I love you my Sherlock, I’m ready.”


	9. First Day in the New House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman, Patton, Remus and Emile move into Logan and Virgil's house - and even though the Crofters couple are unprepared, they deal with it well.
> 
> No trigger warnings this is just cuteness - I think

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's reached the end of my reading week (week with no classes and lots of free time) so updates might be slower - but I'll still be posting!

Virgil and Logan made their way home eventually with the kids they were caring for. Logan could fit the kids and himself in the car but not Virgil, so while Logan took the kids to his and Virgil's house – calming them down and answering any questions they had – Virgil made his way home in his own car, stopping at the local mall for things they needed while taking care of four minors. The boys had absolutely nothing. When the police looked around their house they found all the clothes and toys taken, as well as class books they didn’t bring to school that day. So Virgil charged himself with the shopping trip, guessing what kind of clothes the kids like by what the kids wore on their backs.

Remus was probably one of the easiest for Virgil to shop for as their styles were quite similar – dark and Gothic, with a mix of punk. Unfortunately they weren’t the same clothing size otherwise they could share clothes. But there was a lot of leather jackets and spiked clothing for Remus – and some extra accessories for Virgil himself. 

Roman dressed a lot more grandeur, with lots of red and gold. Roman mentioned he usually made his own clothing or modified clothing he bought, so Virgil focused mainly on simple clothing that could be designed to Roman’s specific tastes. So just a lot of basic red hoodies, white t-shirts and plain jeans. And anything with a royal design had to be bought according to Roman.

Patton and Emile dressed weirdly similarly seeming their age difference. Patton stuck to baby/light blue and Emile light pink and creams. But Virgil must admit he got carried away buying cute children’s clothes for the little five year old he’d be taking care of. He also needed to buy a car seat and toys for the little one. He found the large shop relatively relaxing to calm his nerves, he had ran out of his barista job once he heard Logan was at the police station so this shop was really the first time he could relax. And no-one disturbed his listening to his music until he reached the checkout counter.

“This sure is a big shop!” The cashier smiled, way too cheery for anyone in retail, must have just started the job. “How old are your kids?”

“Uh… Fifteen, fourteen and five.” This was not a time to explain his teacher husband had gotten way too attached to a few students so became a parent figure for them without much consent from his husband. The cashier raised an eyebrow, either spotting Virgil’s youthfulness or rainbow pin. Virgil had an awful habit of looking like a teenager himself, especially when in the barista uniform he was currently still wearing. “They’re adopted. I'm gay.” He said quickly before any more questions were asked, he packed his things away and went back home.

*****

“Right – we’ll get straight to the business of this situation.” Logan proclaimed while he faced the boys he was taking care of walking into the living room of his house. “I only have one actual spare bedroom, and then there’s a sofa here and in the study. You need to decide rooms between you and who shares the actual spare bedroom that has two beds.”

“Ugh – even when Mr Crofters is home he sounds like a teacher.” Remus sighed, rolling his eyes and then chuckling while collapsing on the sofa. Emile still held Roman’s hand as he looked around.

“Mr C – That room’s Patton’s!” Emile looked up at Logan confused, pointing at Logan’s study. Logan was also confused until he realised all the houses in the cul-de-sac held the exact same design. All the houses were technically three bedrooms, apart from the smaller bedroom on the first floor became a study for the childless couple that Logan and Virgil were. Remembering that made Logan slightly sad, it meant that one or even two of the boys didn’t have a bedroom before coming here – and Logan wasn’t helping that.

“Um – well this is a new house so you can take the sofa in that room if you want to little guy.” Logan tried to smile and kneel down to Emile to stop his confusion. Emile only looked at Patton for a second, who nodded, and then spoke again.

“Can I take that room Sir? I don’t like people watching TV while I’m sleeping.” Emile mumbled, his thumb still in his mouth but Logan could just about decode what was being said. Logan nodded, understanding that Emile must have slept in the living room before in his old house.

“And I’ll take the living room Sir.” Patton chirped approaching Logan. Logan felt bad that he even had to have the living room sofa as an option, he would offer to sleep on the sofa and give Patton his bed but he knew that would be uncomfortable for both Patton and Virgil. “I don’t mind it! It would mean I have to walk less in the morning.” Patton gave a wide smile to reassure the high school teacher. Logan could only give an understanding nod and face the twin pair.

“And you two are alright sharing a room? No petty twin arguments?” Roman and Remus nodded with a confused look, as if stating the idea that the two of them could argue was ridiculous. 

“No serious arguments. We enjoy being petty Sir.” Roman smirked and sat on the sofa with his twin brother. Logan sighed, going through his head to think if there was anything else he needed to share or ask the kids. Patton also sat with his brothers as the three of them turned on the TV, Logan had already told them to make themselves at home without asking for permission to do something before they entered the house. Emile explored around the house, rubbing his feet against the carpet and inspecting it. He probably hadn’t seen such a clean house in his entire life.

Virgil walked through the door with several bags in his hands. “I got you guys stuff.” Virgil mumbled to the newcomers while Logan immediately took a few bags to help out. “Remus – Roman – Patton – Emile – Miscellaneous. I’m going to nap.” Virgil said while pointing at the bags placed on the floor and then yawning. Logan gave a small smile to his husband, reassuringly, and Virgil gave a small smile and a kiss on the lips back.

“Mr Sir I have a question.” Emile walked over, his thumb still blocking his mouth so Logan had to whisper the translation holding his husband close. “What do we call you?” The rest of the boys paused the TV and mumbled as if they wanted that question answered too.

“I don’t care uh – My name’s Virgil Crofters so I guess Virgil? Yeah, we can be on first name basis right?” Virgil looked nervously at Logan who nodded. 

“Did you take Mr Crofters name or did he take yours? How can you do that?” Roman raised an eyebrow as Virgil nodded, pointing at Logan. “Why didn’t he take yours?”

“We had a deal that whoever proposed first got to keep the surname and Log-Mr Crofters beat me to it.” Virgil said quickly and corrected himself from calling Logan by his first name in front of his students. Logan established that while the boys were staying in his house there was no extra bonuses beyond that, the boys still had to address him as their teacher. Partly to avoid a bad legal case if Mrs Ray-Feliz went down that route and partly to avoid the school gossip that would inevitably come at some point. “Now I really want to nap so – bye.” Virgil gave Logan one final kiss and went upstairs. The boys began looking through their bags and finding their new clothes, enjoying them immediately.

“Right – Emile there’s already an empty cabinet in your room for you to put your clothes in. As for Patton you can use a wardrobe in Roman and Remus’ room if they share a wardrobe between themselves.” The kids didn’t care to listen to what Logan was saying as they threw clothes around the floor to admire them. Logan could only sigh as they ran around the house. Roman, Remus and Patton quietly made their way upstairs, remembering that Virgil was napping, until they saw the only other member of the house that had not been accounted for.

“KITTY!” The familiar mumble of Remy’s complaints, apart from louder and more nervous, signified Remy sprinting down the stairs like an Olympic champion followed by the light blue wearing middle schooler.

“Mr Crofters! You have a cat?” Roman and Remus also shouted simultaneously running down the stairs. Remy attached himself to Logan’s trouser leg, claws out, making Logan wince in pain a little and pick up his scared son.

“Sssh! You’ll scare him!” Logan said quieter and the boys immediately approached cautiously. “But yes, this is our cat – Remy.” Logan knelt to let the boys stroke his fat fluffy companion. Remy still mumbled but less because he was nervous or scared and more because he was awake. “That’s an important rule of Remy – don’t chase him – got it?” The boys nodded.

“He’s so cute!” Patton cheered fully enjoying stroking such a fluffy animal. The excitement in the boy’s eyes couldn’t stop Logan from smiling. “You coming to stroke the cat Em?” Patton then turned to his younger brother, still sucking his thumb and standing a distance from his brothers.

Logan walked slightly closer to Emile and sat on the floor, putting Remy on his lap who curled up to sleep. “It’s alright Emile – look!” Logan’s voice immediately became quiet and gentle as Emile walked closer still watching Remy. “You want to stroke him? He’s really really soft!” Emile nodded and sat opposite Logan. 

Remy looked up at Emile half asleep. Emile looked to Logan, who nodded, and then Emile stroked Remy’s head. Remy couldn’t help but purr into the touch a little. Logan knew this was rare, he only purred mostly when he was a kitten, but with age the purring decreased. Emile giggled and sat almost leaning against Logan, his hands slowly tracing Remy’s fur while he purred. The other boys didn’t mind Emile getting all the attention from the cat and just returned watching TV. And that’s where they stayed the entire evening: the twins and Patton watching Hamilton on Disney+, Emile happily stroking and even playing with Remy, Virgil napping or hugging Logan, and Logan – for the first time he could remember – deciding to not work and instead watch everything happening and stay in the moment while reading a book.


	10. Paps and Dad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> News of the Ray-Felizes staying with Mr Crofters comes out, which results on a prank by the twins.
> 
> TW - Swearing because Janus is in the chapter, discussions over parental responsibilities, character having a panic attack/argument but it's third person so there's no anxious thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a very long chapter

“Bitch!”

“Woof woof?” Logan responded to his friend Janus, looking up from the trigonometry test he was marking with an unamused raised eyebrow. Logan had been called bitch by Janus several times, so much that it became an automatic response to woof back to keep the more proper meaning of the word in rotation. Janus excitedly gasped and sat down opposite Logan with his lunch; Logan immediately knew what this was about.

“You adopted the Ray-Felizes? I didn’t think you had the balls for that shit but here we are! You’re like an actual parent!” Janus crossed one leg over the other and took a large bite of an apple wanting Logan to speak. Logan sighed and packed the homework he was marking away and sat with good posture, this was going to be a long discussion.

“It isn’t an adoption, I am just housing them. Mrs Ray-Feliz still has full parental responsibility over them.” Janus rolled his eyes and continued staring unhappy with what he was told. “If Mrs Ray-Feliz were to knock on my door and demand her boys back I would have no power to argue – because I don’t have parental responsibility.” Janus scowled and finally looked away from Logan. The thought of Mrs Ray-Feliz coming back and taking the boys from Logan upset him slightly even though he had only taken care of them one night so far. He knew their life with their mother wasn’t good so letting them go back without police judgement would be – barbaric.

“You should just adopt them already, where else would all that Daddy energy go?” Janus smirked looking Logan up and down as he stuttered and laughed. “Plus they deserve a parent like you – well I haven’t met the others but I know Roman and Remus. You should have seen Roman in English period one.” Logan hummed to ask for more information while he got out his sandwiches, made in a little more of a rush as Logan and Virgil worked together to get Patton on the school bus and a lunch made for Emile before kindergarten. 

Janus happily told Logan about his English lesson period one. He knew when Roman was early that something had changed, apparently Roman usually came to his period one classes either on time or run in late with unbrushed hair and cereal on his jacket which Janus just resorted to a late wake up. But when Roman came in at 7:30am when his homeroom began at 7:45am, perfectly calm and presentable and happy, Janus needed to know all the details.

“Well, well, well. Sir Ray-Feliz actually wakes up before 7:40.” Janus chuckled at his student, sipping a carton of juice from the cafeteria. Roman just smiled, bringing out all his textbooks (Roman usually only brought in the text the class was studying that day – not all his books – that was unheard of from any of Janus’ students) and sitting down at his desk. After a minute silence Roman spoke, also very unusual for a period one class that wasn’t a theatre class.

“Do you have Lord of the Flies?” Roman asked, looking from one of Janus’ many bookshelves to his English teacher. Janus had to blink several times to check he wasn’t sleeping. 

“Yes, third shelf at the back, why?” Roman stood and got the book, reading it as soon as he sat down again, confusing Janus even more. Lord of the Flies wasn’t on the syllabus for any of the high school years at Sanders Academy High so students rarely touched the amazing masterpiece or even heard of it. But then what Roman said next shocked even more.

“I read a little bit of it last night. I like it.”

“You own books?” Janus said half jokingly. Although he was sure the majority of his students didn’t have random literature classics lying around their house as they could hardly name any book that wasn’t studied at some point in school.

“Now I do.” Roman responded simply, still looking down at the book he was reading intensely. No student under the age of seventeen would be that focused on a book, and even above the age of seventeen that focus was rare.

“Pff – you’re acting like you were adopted by Mr Crofters or something…” Janus laughed while he got the lesson ready as other students walked in. Roman just awkwardly looked up and coughed, as in in thought about something. Janus’ eyes widened and he threw himself over to Roman on his spinning chair to whisper. “What did he do?”

*****

“Ugh Mr Crofters is a dick…” Roman and Remus’ friend, Eric, sighed while completing homework at the cafeteria table. He was a high school senior and he was bad at maths, but great at drama which gave him one of the main roles in Twelfth Night and a spot on the theatre kids table. The rest of the theatre kids laughed at Eric’s frustration until they saw Roman and Remus approach the table.

“Don’t say something like that about Roman and Remus’ dad!” Another theatre kid giggled making both twins sigh and roll their eyes. It had almost been two weeks since they started living with Mr Crofters and mostly all the school knew. Questions were given to Roman and Remus about living with the maths teacher, very explicit ones given by the students that simped for him, and maths class had become a little closer to Hell for the two of them. It was good that Mr Crofters could control the class well so they could focus on the lesson. Not that they would change it, Mr Crofters had relaxed more while he lived with his students but wasn’t so relaxed that they felt like they were on their own with everything again. 

The only thing that annoyed the two of them about the constant mention of Mr Crofters with them was the constant mention that he was their Dad. They were not allowed to call him Dad, that was the unspoken spoken rule of the household. Even though they really wanted to call someone Dad.

“Why don’t you call him Dad in school?” A friend asked Roman. Roman quickly had to formulate a lie: it was too embarrassing, it would make Mr Crofters seem less serious in his work environment, it wasn’t needed. The lie was on the tip of his tongue before Remus answered.

“We can’t. We’re not allowed.” Remus said so simply. Did he not think he’d be ridiculed for that? Roman glanced at his brother then at the rest of the table, they were just very confused.

“Well, have you tried?”

“Yeah we don’t want to try. We’re lucky he took us, we don’t want to drive him round the bend so he gives up on us.” Roman ate quickly, he hated being reminded that Mr Crofters could give up on them. Their home situation wasn’t forever and they definitely weren’t going to actually be adopted. Virgil was alright with having the twins and their brothers around, but he wasn’t ready to be paternal. Roman could just tell in Virgil’s eyes living with Mr Crofters wasn’t a permanent thing.

“Why don’t you try calling Mr Crofters’ husband Dad? From what I heard, he’s a nervous wreck, being called Dad might be good entertainment.” Eric laughed, he was an openly gay student at the school that knew all the teacher’s drama – especially the LGBTQ+ ones. He knew Mr Jackson was a trans man before he even put his flag up, and he passed really well.

“He’ll hate u-“

“Sounds fun actually.” Remus gave a familiar evil smirk to Roman and Roman scowled about to diminish his brother’s evil plan. That was until a spark of serotonin went off in Roman’s brain, he believed described as hope, that told him to do it. “The husband prefers to be called Pap or Paps though – at least that’s what he calls himself when he speaks to the cat.”

“Perfect! And if you do it… we owe you lunch for the next four weeks.”

*****

It was the evening and Logan was waiting in his car for Patton to finish classes. Roman and Remus sat in the backseats of his car on their phones, typing furiously and smirking at each other. It was a silence – not necessarily awkward but it was unusual. “So what happened at school? Apart from the amazing maths class from yours truly.” Logan laughed, but both boys just shrugged and laughed at their phones. Unfortunately Logan had no reason to ask for phones away so he could talk to the two kids in his car. He sighed and watched the middle school students leave the school and either enter the school buses, parents’ cars, or walk home. The few students that recognised him gave him a wave. There was no sign of Patton and they had been waiting for eight and a half minutes. “You texted Patton that we’re here to pick him up right?” The boys nodded again. When Logan sighed again he finally spotted the eighth grader walking towards his car, waving goodbye to a friend but also with his eyes glued to his phone screen as he entered the passenger seat of the car. “Right – good – how was school Patton?” Logan chirped knowing Patton would always be up to conversation, but Patton just gave a mumble of agreement looking at his phone. “This must be a very interesting game app…” Logan finally mumbled, giving up on conversation and just driving home.

The boys and Logan walked in quietly, the boys still on their phones. Virgil was feeding Remy so Logan walked over and gave him a kiss, the distant sound of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the background coming from Emile watching the TV. “How’s my favourite husband?” Logan whispered, holding Virgil from behind for a moment. “The kids are acting weird – they’re glued to their phones.” Virgil shrugged.

“They’re teenagers, what do you expect? You think so highly of those gremlins.” Virgil said, also in a whisper while a quiet murmur of conversation erupted between the boys with a question more distinctive than the other murmurs coming from Remus.

“Paps can we play Monopoly this evening?”

Virgil paused like he was a character in a movie, the only movement being his eyes staring at Logan in shock and then his eyebrows shaping into suspicion. Logan was equally as shocked and was about to remind them until the rule when Patton spoke.

“Can Pap help me with English homework first or is he busy? I don’t understand similes.”

Logan tried to speak to derail the nonsense but everything only came out as a stutter. Virgil was speechless, backing away from Logan slightly as if he was the cause of this behaviour. The last straw was given by Roman.

“But I need Paps to help me with my lines! I have my Twelfth Night performance soon!”

Virgil sprinted upstairs like his life depended on it, which allowed Logan to have a good look at the boys’ reactions. Each one of them was holding a giggle, looking at Logan with pride as they scared the life out of his husband. Logan made sure to show he wasn’t pleased with their behaviour by the tried-and-true teacher glare, and each one of them dropped their smiles with a quiet: “oh…” before Logan ran upstairs.

Logan knocked on his bedroom door. “Honey… Are you alright in there?” He then entered quietly. Virgil sat in a ball on the bed, his eyes blown wide and his face pale. “Are you grounding? Are you counting your breaths?” Logan immediately jumped into action like he did in college, Virgil would always panic before a big exam and Logan was the calming down expert. He sat next to his husband and held his hand, but Virgil shuffled away.

“Not funny Lo.” Virgil said quietly and somewhat aggressively. “That shit really isn’t funny.”

“I wasn’t in on that honey. I was as surprised as you.” Logan said slowly and calmly although he had not heard that much venom in his husband’s voice in years.

“You know I’m not ready for that why did you do it?” Virgil finally raised his voice due to his tears which made Logan flinch. “I said three years not however long it took for you to get involved with these students! I know this is the life you want right now but I can’t do it!” Virgil’s tears were in full force now, he was shaking violently, but Logan had to remain calm while he was being shouted at.

“They did that completely of their own accord, trust me. I had no involvement.”

“How the fuck are you so calm if you weren’t involved in that? That was scary Lo! They look up to me! I’m not ready for that responsibility!”

“Verge – sshh.” Logan whispered, finally grabbing Virgil’s hands and he didn’t complain. Just cried. “They knew that was wrong as soon as you ran off. They didn’t mean to hurt you. They probably want a family more than even you and I do – and they didn’t think before they spoke.” Virgil nodded and sniffled, leaning on Logan slightly more and catching his breath. “And as for them looking up to you, I think they have every reason to. Remember those warm fuzzies I and others wrote for you in college? They’re still in the spare room.” Virgil and Logan smiled at their shared memory. In one of Virgil’s ‘episodes’ in college of demotivation, Logan and a few of Virgil’s friends worked together to cheer him up every day. It began with a fish bowl that belonged to Virgil, as he always wanted fish but couldn’t be bothered to buy them, so it was instead used to store nice notes for Virgil. Virgil would wake up every morning to six to ten new notes in his fish tank saying what he was good at, what his friends were thankful for, and motivational messages. It was a fond memory watching that fish bowl get fuller and fuller by the day and Virgil getting happier and happier reading them every day. “You’re extremely intelligent, especially with poetry – you’re so kind to everyone and so forgiving – you’re also really good at persevering. And I personally want any kid, let them be ours in three years or the kids we’re looking after now, to have those qualities. They’d be perfect.”

Virgil shuffled over and kissed Logan softly. “I’m sorry for shouting.” Virgil whispered, holding himself in Logan’s arms and closing his eyes. “I was just scared – I am scared.”

“So am I. This life is new for both of us.” Logan kissed Virgil’s hand keeping the same low volume. “But we’re doing it together, one day at a time, learning from them and each other. Now we know to never be lenient on the Dad rule.”

“Maybe…” Was Virgil’s only response as he thought, holding Logan’s hand and watching it, just like the first conversation about kids they had. “I had a tough day of work today, maybe that’s what set it off rather than the concept of Paps…”

“You want to talk about it?” 

And that was the hour or two Logan dedicated to Virgil. Letting Virgil offload about his day and cry if he needed to and scream if he felt like it. Logan knew his vows were still true, he would stay with Virgil forever, whatever strings attached. Being Paps and Dad could wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you get the reason I put Eric as the openly gay drama loving character you have good Netflix taste. I would hope you're 18+ though but to be honest I've seen the raunchy stuff on here so I wouldn't be surprised if a reader here knew the show I was on about.


	11. Little Logans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan and Virgil get more used to having the Ray-Felizes around them, and they consider whether they'd want it to be a permanent situation.
> 
> TW - Spiders? I think that's the only one and I don't know if it's even a trigger.

Logan spent the entire evening attending to Virgil. When they both went down for dinner the boys profusely apologised and Virgil forgave them but still wanted to eat in his room upstairs and do some editing work he had left to the last minute. He could hear the boys entertaining themselves downstairs watching TV, Logan switched between checking everything was alright with them and cuddling and kissing Virgil. 

Virgil managed to wake himself up at 3am for no reason whatsoever. His brain did that often, either when he was stressed or touch starved. He didn’t know which this time. He sighed in the darkness, shuffling closer to his husband, feeling his warmth and his steady breaths while he most likely dreamt. Just looking at Logan made Virgil relive all the little moments in his life that made him say yes to his husband’s proposal and all the amazing moments after. There wasn’t a day where he wasn’t excited to make more memories, even though the day ahead of him was more strange and scary than the days gone before. But as Logan said, they loved each other, they were going to stay together forever even if that meant Virgil stayed anxious about the whole ‘kids’ problem.

Logan deserved to be a father though, he needed to be. He was so smart and kind and gentle, the way he spoke with Emile or helped the other boys with their homework showed Virgil that. Any and every kid deserved Logan as a father. If Virgil wasn’t so scared about fatherhood he would willingly adopt every child that needed a home so the qualities he loved about his husband could be spread across hundreds or thousands of little people. They also needed to have some genetic kids too, Virgil would love to see his husband’s beautiful blue eyes on a smaller human.

Virgil’s tongue started to feel a little dry so he sat up and went into the kitchen. He was scared to turn any lights on, not that he needed to, but he knew his house was infected with sleeping children. When he entered the living room he spotted Patton curled up at the corner of the sofa, covering himself from the February cold with a cat and dog blanket the couple got for Christmas a few years back from Logan’s parents. The middle schooler sucked his thumb, his glasses open on the floor and part of his buttery blond curly hair covering his face. He watched the child for a few minutes, noting the similarities to Logan. Would that be what their kids looked like? Patton had the glasses like Logan, and definitely the same attitude to learning as Patton would ask the weirdest questions out of the blue - especially in the morning. But Patton’s face was also round like Virgil’s with the permanent childlike expression, and enjoyed hugs and attention like Virgil did before the anxiety kicked in. The middle schooler was a mix between the two of them. 

After Virgil got his glass of water he placed Patton’s glasses on the coffee table. He had heard Logan complain several times about accidentally standing or sitting on his glasses so knew it was a main priority to avoid that situation. For a moment he just sipped his water and watched Patton, wondering if he could ever manage to adopt a teenager or even adopt a child that would become a teenager.

He was in his mind until he heard a quiet shuffling beside the sofa and stood. Remy was on his bed with Logan and Virgil didn’t feel like feeding him at 3am. Instead of his cat though, Emile was walking around quietly packing away the cat toys he left.

“What are you doing awake kid?” Virgil whispered approaching the small child. Emile just sucked his thumb and started to tear up. “Shi-shih tzu – did I scare you kid?” Emile shook his head and walked closer reaching out a hand while crying slightly louder. “Ssshh! You’ll wake your brother.” Virgil quickly picked Emile up and carried him into the study where he slept, sitting on the sofa with Emile on his lap. “Why are you crying?”

Emile didn’t respond and only stared at the wall at the foot of the sofa. Virgil examined it until he spotted a small spider crawling to the corner of the wall. Emile didn’t keep his eyes off the creature as he sucked his thumb and leant into Virgil. “You scared of spiders little guy?” Virgil spoke gently, brushing his fingers through Emile’s hair to distract him. Emile nodded and looked up at Virgil as if begging for help from the monster on the wall. Emile’s eyes shone innocently – blue eyes. It was Logan’s blue eyes, just lighter and in a smaller frame. Virgil paused his chuckle and just looked at them for a moment.

“Can you kill it Mr Virgil?” Emile chirped confused, still holding onto Virgil. Virgil mumbled and smiled.

“I’ll take it outside kiddo. It probably misses its Mommy and Daddy.” Virgil placed Emile to lie on the sofa and caught the small spider with his now empty cup, then let it out the window. Emile smiled wide and yawned once he knew he was safe. “Night kid.”

“Night night Papa.” Emile yawned and lay in a ball on the sofa, closing his eyes but keeping his glasses on. Virgil paused again, his heart rate quickening but no panic setting in. He just felt – warm. It didn’t feel wrong, it didn’t feel completely right yet either, but he liked it. Once Emile was properly asleep Virgil placed Emile’s glasses on the desk and left to go back up to his own room.

Virgil yawned as he finally got to bed again, cuddling close to his husband. Logan mumbled and brought an arm around Virgil while he was half asleep. “Where were you?” Logan mumbled, the words only just forming which made Virgil smile.

“I think I like it.” Was the only thing Virgil thought to say, still thinking about it himself but happy none the less. “I like it when they call me Papa. It makes me feel nice.”

“That’s nice.” Logan mumbled again, maybe he wasn’t listening maybe he was. There was no real way to tell other than waking him up and Virgil didn’t feel like doing that to his husband.

“Do you know if we’re allowed to keep them?” The next question spilled out of Virgil’s lips. But they did seem so much like Logan he wanted to keep them, they were perfect. He knew Logan was awake when he chuckled and opened one of his dark blue eyes.

“If they don’t find Mrs Ray-Feliz or if she willingly gives them up, then yes.” Logan’s smile made Virgil melt. “You definitely ready?”

“More than ready. I want to keep them.”

*****

“Hang on Mum let me just get to the study.” Logan said to his laptop, where his parents were on FaceTime with him. On the second Saturday of every month Logan FaceTimed his parents, and this month was February. He had done quite well to keep the presence of the boys a secret from them thus far, he was usually prepared and sat in his room with a strict note to everyone apart from Virgil that he wasn’t to be disturbed. He was an only child, so although his parents were more than supportive of his sexuality they also prayed to have grandchildren – and them knowing Logan was taking care of four children would excite them and then break their hearts when they found it wasn’t permanent. 

This time he was not lucky enough to give his family prewarning. They brought the FaceTime forward due to some news about some distance aunt Logan couldn’t remember the name of, so called him out of the blue when he had just sat down with a cup of tea and was about to help Remus with American history homework. And the only place he thought of running to was his study. “OK I can talk to you now – what’s this about Auntie Margaret?”

“Why couldn’t you talk in the living room honey?” His mother chirped curiously which made Logan only shrug, listening to Remus and Roman laugh at something which could be heard through the door. “Where’s Virgil? Do you have friends over?”

“Just ignore it Mum, it’s the TV. I’m home alone.” Logan said quickly. It was slightly true, Virgil was at work and the TV was on. It’s just that Logan wasn’t home alone and the TV was playing Phineas and Ferb rather than something Logan would watch at 4pm. “I want to hear about Auntie Margaret.” He didn’t, he just wanted his parents to stop listening at what was going on around his house and concentrate on their own stories.

Logan listened to his parents chat about Auntie Margaret. It was something about her husband getting a promotion at work so they could move closer to where his parents lived rather than living near the Scottish border. Logan nodded along and asked questions until he heard the door to the study open.

“Where’s Papa?” Emile asked, walking into the study and up to Logan. There was no mistake hearing the little voice which made Logan’s parents gasp.

“Papa? Is that a child I hear Logie Bear? You adopted a child?” Logan only stuttered while Emile tried to figure out the new voice and appeared on the camera. “Oh my goodness! Hello little one!” Logan’s mother waved at the little boy as Logan placed Emile on his lap. There was no use hiding his secret family now. Emile smiled and sucked his thumb watching the screen. “Oh what’s his name? He’s a little cutie!”

“His name’s Emile. And we’re just caring for him.” Logan said calmly, about to explain before Emile interrupted again.

“I have brothers too! I’ll get them!” Excitedly Emile jumped off Logan’s lap and ran out the room to get his brothers.

“You adopted more than one kid Logie? How did we not know?” His parents were definitely overjoyed, making Logan sigh.

“It isn’t permanent Mum. I’m just taking care of two students and their brothers until they find their mother, she’s a missing person.” The joy immediately calmed from his parents’ faces. “They don’t even call me Dad or anything, I’m Mr Crofters or Mr C. Only Virgil is Papa.”

Even though Logan’s parents knew the grandsons weren’t permanent they were still excited to meet them when the four of them crowded around the laptop, and treated them as though they were part of the family. It made Logan smile a little, especially the compliments his parents gave about how similar each of the kids were to him growing up. It made him consider if he should be called Dad rather than his teacher name, and that was soon answered by Remus.

“Hey Mr and Mrs Crofters – can we call Mr Crofters Dad? We really want to.” Remus smirked at Logan and Emile and Patton’s eyes widened in hope, and Logan just had to give in.

“At home you can. Not on school grounds.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think everyone in the UK has an Auntie Margaret. And yes it's my head canon that non-Side Logan is most definitely British.


	12. A Crofters school day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil helps Remus with his struggles while Logan helps Emile with his tie.
> 
> TW - Depressive thoughts, depression medication; but apart from that it's cute fluff.

Virgil sprinted into the kitchen. “Roman’s using the family bathroom and Patton’s using the en-suite, but Emile needs the toilet – what do I do?” Virgil spoke quicker than Logan’s brain could function so early in the morning. It was almost 7am on the Monday, but his brain was still wishing it was Sunday so all he could focus on was the toast he was buttering. Virgil was different, he didn’t have work at all that day so had been up since 5am and was running about getting the kids ready for school. “Do I get him to use the bush? What if he needs to sh-poo?” Virgil changed the wording quickly as Emile walked in with brushed hair but still in his pyjamas.

“Uh… Let him play and he’d forget it?” Logan took a wild guess, he wasn’t good at kids under the age of fourteen. Virgil sighed and picked Emile up, almost tripping over Remy and receiving a hiss in return. Virgil hissed back and then disappeared.

After a few minutes Roman and Patton came downstairs. Patton was brushing his hair while Roman was sorting out his jacket. “We’re ready Dad!” Patton cheered, grabbing a few grapes from the table and eating them. 

“Where’s Remus?” Logan raised an eyebrow and placed his laptop in his bag. Patton shrugged and looked to Roman.

“He’s in bed. Didn’t want to get up.”

Logan immediately knew what that alluded to. He had to help Virgil through the experience several times in college. He only nodded. “You boys can watch TV. I’ll make sure your brother’s alright.” Logan was about to go and talk Remus out of bed himself until he heard the soft laughter of his husband along with Emile’s chatter. He knocked gently and spoke through the door. “Um honey? Can you wake Remus up? I’ll take care of Emile – he’s in need of Project Storm-cloud.” Project Storm-cloud was a code the couple used often when Virgil wasn’t feeling the best mentally and needed one on one encouragement.

“Sure sweetie.” Virgil got Emile out of the bath and walked out. He entered the twins’ room, Roman’s bed by the window was empty and clean with a small teddy with a red bow laid on the pillow. On the other side of the room Remus lay in a ball, facing the wall and silent.

“Hey Remus…” Virgil said softly, sitting at the end of his bed. Remus didn’t move, his face moved against the pillow. Virgil sighed and stroked his hair. “Can you turn around and look at me?” Remus shook his head, just moving his pillow. Virgil wasn’t good at doing this, usually Logan would do it to Virgil but he supposed Virgil would be able to relate to Remus more. “You don’t have to go to school. Just talk to me about what you’re feeling.”

“Mph… Bad…” Remus mumbled, turning his head so he was facing the wall again and his hazel eyes meeting Virgil. Virgil nodded, walking to Remus’ wardrobe.

“We can spend the day together if you want. I don’t have work so we can go to Hot Topic or something.” Remus scowled and mumbled something, holding his green bowed teddy in his palm. Virgil looked through Remus’ drawers to get some clothes out for him to wear so that he’d have a small goal to try. But then he found a small pill box, seven boxes attached and labelled for each day. They were all full because it was the start of the week.

“What are you doing?” Remus sat up as Virgil opened the packet for the Monday, taking one of the two pills out. “That won’t help.”

“Why wouldn’t it? We can call your counsellor if the prescription needs changing and get that done today.” Remus mumbled again and sat up, shrugging.

“Didn’t take it at all yesterday.”

Virgil looked down at the pills Remus was meant to take, one in the morning and one in the evening. He then sat next to Remus and gave him a small smile. Remus lay down again. “Do you mind just leaving? I’m tired.” Remus sighed, not rudely, just slightly impolitely.

“I want to spend time with my son, come on.” Virgil threw a t-shirt at Remus and stood with a smile. “Try one step at a time. It’s a good method to get by your day, we’ll take as much time as you need.” Remus looked over with a judgemental raised eyebrow. “Want me to give you the steps?” Remus nodded. “Sit up.” Remus yawned.

“No.”

Virgil laughed and rolled his eyes. “Very funny.”

Remus yawned again, stretching, and sat up. Virgil entertained himself by clearing up the twins’ room of dirty laundry and putting it in the laundry basket. He never thought picking up clothes from the floor to do laundry would make him smile, but here he was, smiling like an idiot at the thought of organising clothes into which kid they belonged to. “Now stand up. Take all the time you need.”

Remus rolled his eyes and stood. “Do I have to go to school?” He crossed his arms and looked at the floor, then at the clothes placed on his bed.

“Of course you don’t. Your mental health is more important than whatever useless knowledge your teachers want to fill you with – Don’t tell Logan I said that though.”

A small smile tugged at Remus’ lips as he watched Virgil walk around his room. Gone were the days where he’d be in a bad mood and look at all the dirty clothes around him needing doing. They’d be left for days at a time, sometimes even weeks. Rarely he or his brothers had to come into school with dirty clothes because Remus didn’t have the energy to do it. It was almost magical, any stain on clothing after art class or a sauce stain on a tea towel was solved within four days at the most. Sometimes he’d be looking for a stain that had become non-existent, and Emile would say the magic fairy made it all disappear. “You want to get showered anyway? And into the clothes I set out?”

“Can I stay in my pyjamas? I don’t want to go out.”

Virgil paused for a moment and thought. He then nodded. “Get showered and go back into your pjs. Can you help with laundry though as a fair trade?”

Remus happily nodded, grabbing his dark green towel and going to the bathroom. He paused before he was about to leave, watching Virgil march up and down the room to find dirty clothes. His only thought was exactly how grateful he was, for everything. He was grateful he had his brothers to get through his past with, he was grateful to have Mr Crofters as a teacher, he was grateful Virgil was happy to do laundry and Logan was happy to cook for him, and he was thankful he had medication now. He may at times not want to take it and live a normal life, but he was glad to have it nonetheless. All this gratefulness entering his mind made Remus run up to Virgil and hug him. He could feel Virgil flinch at the sudden touch and then laugh and hug back. Remus whispered a quiet “thank you” and then walk to the bathroom.

*****

“Right! Time for your kindergarten kiddo.” Logan cheered, hanging Emile’s bath towel up in his ensuite bathroom and giving Emile a small smile. Emile seemed otherwise preoccupied, face first in one of Logan’s drawers as if looking for something. “What are you looking for kiddo?” Logan laughed softly and held Emile’s waist to carry him out. Emile kept his wide smile as he held something he grabbed. An old tie of Logan’s, pink, that he hadn’t worn since going to school in the UK. 

“Can I wear it Dad? Please!” Emile giggled and pouted and whined. Logan only smirked and inspected it, thinking how he was going to fit it around Emile’s small body without it becoming a tripping hazard.

“Alright, let me change it a little first alright?” Logan smirked and grabbed some sharp scissors, cutting it certain ways or another to make it fit Emile but still look like a tie. He didn’t mind destroying it, he didn’t even know he brought the tie over when he moved to Florida. When he finished he tied the tie gently around Emile’s neck, expecting him to squirm at the slight tightness of it but Emile just kept his wide happy smile. “Now you ready for school?”

“Mhm! I’m just like Daddy!” Emile giggled, grabbing Logan’s hand and running down the stairs full pelt. He gave a proud smile to his older brothers who complimented his new outfit. “I’m going to go to school and tell everyone I’m dressed like my Dad who’s the best teacher in the world!” Emile’s smile reached Logan again as he was checking his emails and his heart exploding wouldn’t have been an exaggeration. God he loved this.

After a few minutes one of the showers upstairs turned on and Virgil walked downstairs with a full bag of laundry. Logan immediately stood. “I can put the washing on before going to work honey.” Logan ran over and kissed Virgil, who smiled until Logan grabbed the laundry bag.

“Hey, hey Mr Teach!” Virgil giggled and kissed Logan taking the bag. “I’m doing it later. Shouldn’t you get to work?” Logan rolled his eyes and gave Virgil a nuzzle on the cheek before turning to his sons.

“Five minutes to get in the car. If you’re late you get extra maths lessons.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the large gap! University classes take a lot of my time so I only really get to relax in the evening.
> 
> Also thanks for all the love this fanfic gotten so far. There will be a few more chapters - some plot driven and maybe a few more cute fluff like these.
> 
> Do you want a one-shot book after this? Would you like it to surround Logan and Virgil's family in the future (and as the kids grow up) or maybe Logan and Virgil in college falling in love, getting married and adopting Remy?


	13. Mrs Ray-Feliz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman and Remus eat together at lunch, but they have a surprise visitor.
> 
> TW - Mention of homosexuality, bisexuality and asexuality/aromanticity, almost kidnapping, sibling favouritism, swearing (because Janus) - I think that's it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yes I have been writing for hours straight because I felt like it and now it's 1am. At least I have no timetabled classes tomorrow.
> 
> I also realised that the way I make someone seem like a dramatic drama queen while they're eating lunch is they eat apples - I don't know if that means something or not.

“Can you believe it’s already March bro…” Remus mumbled as he and his brothers leant against the lockers and watched students walk from one place to another to have their lunch. Roman shrugged, his cheeks full of peanut butter and jelly sandwich that Virgil packed for him. “I mean that means we’ve been in - Dad and Papa’s - house for 3 months. That’s like a quarter of a year right? Right? I’m shit at fractions.”

Roman chuckled, but it was true, time sure had flown. Even though he and his brothers’ surnames were Ray-Feliz on the registers, every teacher that used surnames to refer to their students – from Remus’ English teacher to Roman’s theatre class – called them Roman and Remus Crofters. Even students did too – and even though Roman was originally worried about being bullied for being adopted no-one did such a thing. Maybe because everyone knew and loved Mr Crofters. And their grades had gone up, which was always a bonus. He had gone from expecting no future college to accept him or not even having the financial security to dream of college to maybe getting a scholarship or two to a local college. So much change in a few months. 

And Patton was extremely happy too. He couldn’t stop talking about graduating middle school in a few months, a topic that he dreaded before as the ceremony would make him stick out like a sore thumb with no parents to see his ascent into teenage-dom. Now he was planning to make a speech in order to make his Dad proud and was excited to join Sanders Academy High in September. The last few months were almost too good to be true.

Remus stretched although he got up over five hours ago. “I wanna get some air.” He said simply, sipping his juice and looking at the entrance doors. “Mind sitting on the steps?”

Roman nodded and the two walked to the steps up to the school and sat at the end. They looked at the few students who ate their food in the car park or who returned with takeout food. A gaggle of freshmen girls passed them on the steps and waved at them, they were in Mr Crofters’ maths class. “You think Pat will enjoy it here?” Remus said again, watching the freshmen girls curiously.

“Of course he will. We do, and he’ll be with us.”

“He’ll be so popular by like – the first day.” Remus chuckled, rolling the juice carton down the banister so it perfectly landed in the trash bin. “I bet he’ll get a girlfriend before Christmas.”

“You’re saying that like he’s straight.” Roman smirked and took a large gulp of water, also managing to land his eyes on the freshmen his brother was looking at. Remus made shocked noises and turned to him.

“No way can another one be gay – it’s an infestation!” He screamed with added dramatics, adding a fake scowl at the end as he leaned back and munched on an apple. “Oh trust me one gay drama queen is enough.” 

“But you’re bi…”

“There’s a difference between a gay drama queen and a bisexual drama queen – you’re the gay one.” Roman couldn’t help laughing. He had always been happy with his sexuality, hadn’t really needed to explain it to anyone as they kind of guessed. He couldn’t even name a moment he realised he was into guys rather than girls, it just kind of happened that way. People also guessed that Remus would enjoy whatever he got.

“My point still stands. Patton prefers guys.” Unlike Roman and Remus, Patton was still quite a mystery with who he was attracted to. While Roman and Remus gushed about crushes throughout middle school, Patton kept very quiet about it. Maybe because it wasn’t something the three of them could joke about when they had the stress of being Ray-Felizes. He supposed he could be under the asexual or aromantic spectrum, but Roman had a pretty good gay-dar and Patton alarmed it. 

“If he gets a girlfriend before a boyfriend or non-binary partner you’re giving me ten dollars.” Remus knew he didn’t have to phrase that as a request. That was a bet now, and since they couldn’t bet on taking the trash out or cooking dinner they bet on money. Although there were a few times they bet using household chores and the loser would have to run into the house and alert whichever father was closest of the punishment he had been commanded. Roman laughed which meant he agreed to the bet.

The two of them ate and chatted for a while, just talking about anything from Roman’s Twelfth Night performance to the probability of Remus skipping gym. That was until Roman saw something and paused. “Shit, Remus, 11 o’clock.” Remus followed his eyes and gasped, standing. 

“Let’s go inside.” Remus was about to turn until a shout caused him to pause in place.

“Remus! Roman! My little Latin twins! Come here!”

It was Mrs Ray-Feliz. She drove up the car park to meet up with her sons, giggling as she went out the car. It made both of them uneasy. She was tanned but seemed pale, her blue eyes were darkened but full of life. “Oh how are my boys? I missed you!” Her voice was light and joyful but also sinister as she grabbed her sons’ cheeks and squeezed them. “That teacher has been feeding you well! Now come into the car and we’ll go home.”

“Where’s home?” Roman said sharply not getting into the door his mother had opened. His mother smiled softly again, leaning on the open door with a glazed look in her eyes. “You abandoned us out of the blue.”

“Because we’re starting a new life together boys! We’re going to be travelling state by state – which means you’ll spend your junior year in New York or California – maybe even Hawaii! Isn’t that amazing? And if we’re lucky you could spend your senior year in Canada or Mexico – I have my ways of getting there.” She tapped the side of her nose and with another giggle got in the car. Roman and Remus stayed where they were. After a few seconds their mother sighed. “Do I need to get your brother out the car to persuade you?”

“You didn’t…” Remus whispered under his breath, immediately thinking she had Emile in the backseat. Emile was so gullible that this trip travelling states with his loving mother would seem like a dream to him. Alas when Mrs Ray-Feliz opened the door Emile didn’t jump out but rather Patton – without glasses. “Pat what happened to your-“

“She broke them!” Patton whispered with fear lacing his words. His movements were still as a statue, his hands holding each other in front of his as if he was praying. Mrs Ray-Feliz knew Patton’s weakness was his glasses. He couldn’t see a thing without them, let alone run away or put up a fight. And also knowing Mrs Ray-Feliz Patton wouldn’t get his glasses back until they were over state lines and far from Logan, Virgil, or the police’s rescue. 

“You coming?” Mrs Ray-Feliz shouted through the car, quite impatiently. She probably still expected her sons to be naïve enough to follow her every command without hesitation. Roman quickly grabbed Patton and brought him onto the high school steps before speaking.

“Emile deserves a better life than you – We all do.” Roman made sure he was clear in her words, hoping that would be enough to scare his mother away. Patton was shaking like a leaf next to him, knowing he had no control if his mother were to grab him again and chuck him into the car. Mrs Ray-Feliz only chuckled lightly.

“That teacher can keep Emile. He’ll only drag us down anyway, Momma’s got to make her money on the road now.”

Whether the boys were silent due to shock or fear they were unsure. They all just held hands, knowing they’d just refuse to move and then run into school (probably carrying Patton between them) when the school bell rang. “Right – come on I’ve had enough of asking.” She got out the car and started walking over until a loud voice erupted from the high school’s doors.

“BITCH YOU AIN’T GOING NOWHERE!” Roman’s English teacher and part of the drama staff, Mr Jackson, opened the double doors dramatically causing a large bang. This in turn made Patton shudder and cower – unsure of what was going on as he’d never met Mr Jackson. After a few seconds Mr Crofters appeared shaking and red, he had obviously ran while crying, and went straight to Patton.

When Patton felt Logan’s arms around him he immediately stopped shaking. “I’m here kiddo. Dad’s here. You aren’t going anywhere.”

“Hands off my child!” Mrs Ray-Feliz screamed and tried to grab Patton from the shelter of his Dad’s body. She almost got a hold of his sleeve until Mr Jackson appeared behind her.

“No.” He just said simply, then blew a kiss before trapping her wrists behind her back. “Oh I have never been so glad the freshmen are learning about crime thrillers.” Mr Jackson said to either himself or the gathering crowd while placing handcuffs around Mrs Ray-Feliz’s wrists. She tried to pull away until she was held into a chokehold by another teacher. Soon all the staff at the school were working together on calming the gathering crowd of students to avoid future embarrassment, keeping Mrs Ray-Feliz at bay, and calling the police. Logan’s main concern of course was his kids, as he slowly brought all three of them into a warm secure hug.

“Everything will be OK now kiddos. We can do this.”


	14. Happy Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman and Remus spend their birthdays the happiest they'd ever been.
> 
> TW - Mention of having panic attacks and mention of driving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another question for Americans: when do you learn to drive? I know you can drive at 16 but do you usually learn when you reach 16 or before? Do you do Driver's Ed in sophomore or junior year?
> 
> I’ve had a few answers and oh my God I cannot imagine seeing actual children behind the wheel. I’m glad I’m in the UK.

About a week after the ‘incident’ and things had calmed down again. They still had to be cautious with certain things – like how none of the boys could answer the front door if it knocked. Patton was also still quite nervous at certain points in the day. Apparently Mrs Ray-Feliz had told the middle school that there was a legal mix up so the police had no more involvement in their case. So Patton was taken out of the lesson with no suspicion only to have his glasses taken while he was dragged away. He believed she broke them when he tried screaming for help.

Virgil was a great help though. When Patton told the police his story he had his first panic attack with Virgil at his side. Virgil just held him, telling it was healthy to process these emotions and anxiety attacks every once in a while was actually quite good. This was followed by Virgil recounting stories of Logan forgetting or leaving his glasses to bring some joy to his son’s panic.

This day seemed like a normal Sunday to Roman and Remus. That was until Roman woke, and not by an alarm. Logan set the alarm clock for his sons each day, 6:45am on weekdays and 10am on weekends or holidays. This was so they could be productive and spend the day together, and the twins didn’t mind as they loved spending time with their parents and brothers. Roman turned his head confused, the clock said 10:45. Maybe the alarm didn’t work? He checked the clock and no, the alarm did work. The sound of it even made Remus stir, still not opening his eyes.

Roman stood and approached the mirror in his room. Usually if Roman and Remus weren’t out of bed by 10:15am Logan would come into their room and check if they were alright while encouraging them to start their day. But he didn’t this time. What if the worst happened? What if his mother had some kind of psychotic break and took them to be with the sons she loved? He tried not to panic, stretching his arms and glancing at his bed again. That’s when he spotted a small present wrapped in red paper between a few of his school books. Remus had a green present under his bed. He checked the calendar on his phone and then gasped: it was the twenty first of March.

“Remus! Re-Re! It’s our birthday!” Roman screamed, jumping on his brother’s bed and shaking him. Remus mumbled and sighed, his eyes still closed.

“Happy birthday bro.” He said sleepily, turning so he could sleep again. The reality probably hadn’t settled in yet, they were so used to celebrating their birthdays by just a simple happy birthday in the morning and then going about their day. On their fourteenth birthday their friends did bring a cake into school, but it had to be hidden in a backpack so it didn’t last long. But now, with their Dads, they could actually enjoy the day and get presents and cake.

“Get up you idiot. We got presents.” When it sunk in Remus smiled wide, sat up and immediately spotted his present. Roman also got his present and sat on his bed. Remus looked at his brother expectedly, when they were children they enjoyed opening their presents at the exact same time, so Roman counted them down. “Three… Two… One.”

They opened their presents excitedly and admired them. Remus smiled softly, holding a green sketchpad and black notebook. He had mentioned to his parents about getting into drawing and creative writing again, he used to enjoy both as a child but then being a Ray-Feliz overtook his time to enjoy those things. Inside the books was a small note – a simple ‘We love you – Dad and Papa’.

Roman ran to the mirror with the present he got. A makeup set – he had always wanted to experiment with makeup. Remus did, he always wore eyeshadow to school using their mother’s old makeup and no brushes. When they lived with their parents Remus inherited Virgil’s eyeshadow set with brushes from college. The makeup his brother wore was not his style though, there was no glitter and it was black. This new makeup set was exactly what Roman wanted. There was plenty of glitter and colours. He sat opposite the mirror and placed all the makeup gently on his face, looking at the swatches, deciding which was his favourite. Showering and getting changed could wait.

When Remus had got out the shower himself his brother was covered in colour. “Am I pwetty bro?” Roman giggled, wiping off some of the makeup so that he could shower. Remus laughed and ruffled his wet hair. He was sixteen. He was officially old enough to get a full time job, join the army, or leave home. Not that he wanted to do any of that now, he was safe and overjoyed with his life now. But when things first started going south in middle school he remembers wishing and praying to be sixteen so he could fully provide for his brothers and escape the people who raised him. But he was at that point now, he had done that all before reaching sixteen. He was safe.

When Remus and Roman finally went downstairs it was reaching noon. Patton was watching TV while Logan and Emile played a game together on the floor and Virgil was feeding Remy in the kitchen. However everyone screamed “happy birthday!” when they saw the twins and Emile and Patton ran over to give their brothers a hug. 

“Thanks for the gifts Dads.” Roman said, smiling at Logan, wider than he ever had before. “This is the best birthday ever.”

“What do you two want to do today?” Virgil said as he walked into the room, patting the boys on the back and then walking over to his husband and holding his hand. “We have more presents, but we want to disperse them throughout the day.”

“More presents?” Remus gasped, his eyes wide and a smile on his face. He still held his notebook and sketchpad under one arm while looking at his parents in amazement. “The presents we got already were fine.”

“Oh but it’s your day boys.” Logan smiled as a timer went off, signifying lunch. “I suppose we should announce the plan we got for today.” Logan’s smile became a smirk as Remus and Roman glanced at each other then back at their Dad. “We’re going for a drive after lunch.”

“Where are you driving us to?” Roman asked, instinctively grabbing the chicken nuggets that had just finished cooking and placing them on the dining table. Remy jumped on the table and stole one, getting a quiet shoo from Remus who started to set it.

“I’m not driving. You two are.” Logan’s smirk became wider. There was silence for a few minutes while the twins processed what they were about to do. They were old enough to learn how to drive, and their Dad was offering them to drive his car. The car he drove to school every day, and he was trusting them with it. “I thought we could get a few lessons in before you start Driver’s Ed in junior year.”

The twins looked at each other than back at Logan, speaking simultaneously. “You trust him?” They giggled, pointing at each other. Their family chuckled but Logan nodded.

The evening soon came in no time. Driving wasn’t as bad as the twins thought, Logan gave clear instructions and they didn’t kill anyone. Driving was something the boys thought they’d never achieve, they didn’t have anyone to teach them before let alone the possibility of getting their own cars. But Logan even mentioned that the cars he and Virgil held now will be given to them once they passed their driving tests. “Virgil and I can walk places or get the bus or buy another car, you both deserve your independence and freedom though. All part of growing up.”

They were also gifted many things throughout the day. Patton baked cupcakes for them and got them a stack of Disney movies and Emile gave lots of cuddles and birthday songs. Their fathers also gave the twins new clothes, an Xbox, a Nintendo Switch, new school bags and headphones, hair dye for Remus (he had always wanted a blond streak through his brown hair). Everything they could ever dream of was theirs.

They had pasta for dinner, Roman and Remus’ favourite meal. They were just chatting and joking, the only interruption from their meal was when Emile got sauce over his face so Virgil or Logan wiped it off for him and gave him a nuzzle on the cheek. “Thanks so much, for everything.” Roman said as he finished his meal. The twins hadn’t stopped smiling all day. Virgil had disappeared to the kitchen. The twins had guessed the reason but they preferred to just cloud their knowledge with mystery.

“We haven’t given you your last present yet.” Logan smiled collecting the plates. Both boys raised an eyebrow. “We may have booked a plane ticket to Disney.”

As predicted Roman gasped and clapped. Remus also laughed, Roman was the biggest Disney fan of the two of them but Remus still appreciated the artistry of the animation and the scriptwriting. Patton also gasped. “Is that for all of us Dad?”

“Of course. There’s six seats booked for the day after school ends for Easter.”

Virgil then brought the cake out, apparently he went to the bakery after work that day and got a custom one made. It was double tiered, one side was red and gold with an edible figure of a prince looking at himself in a mirror while brushing his hair. The other side was green and grey, another edible person on the top holding out a sword and shield facing the same direction as the prince. Along the first layer of the cake ‘happy birthday’ was written in white. The boys almost felt like they couldn’t touch it.

“Tuck in boys, we know you love strawberry cake.”

And that is how Roman and Remus’ sixteenth birthday went. It wasn’t the sweet sixteen in all the stereotypical teenage movies, but it was amazing. They thought they could never feel so much love. Everything was perfect, and they felt ready to tackle the start of adulthood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I did use 21st of March as their birthday for a reason - it's my birthday that day.


	15. Disney

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family enjoy their time at Disney, and Virgil realises a sacrifice he has to take.
> 
> TW - None it's just cute - there's a little swearing, maybe there's suggestions that Logan and Virgil about to have sex at the end but it ends before they do anything.

“When you wish upon a STAR!” Roman sang, spinning in circles in front of his brothers and parents. This was the best day of his life. Logan couldn’t get rid of his smile either, holding Virgil’s hand and carrying Emile on his shoulders. The atmosphere was loud with a lot of screaming kids; an environment that would cause Virgil to panic and increase the snarky comments now caused Virgil to get a soft smile and rub his cheek into Logan’s shoulder every so often. He would happily have this life forever. 

“I’ll go get Mickey ears Dad!” Patton cheered pointing at a small stall with Mickey Mouse ears and other headbands. Logan nodded, getting his wallet and giving Patton enough money to get ears for him and his brothers. Even though Logan and Virgil embraced this fatherhood life, their wallets had less of a joy with four kids that they wanted to spoil. But the smile Patton gave as he ran off happily was all worth it.

The husbands had come with slightly concerning news though: they might not be caring for the kids in summer. Now Mrs Ray-Feliz was found they knew she wasn’t suitable for custody, but the police had made sure to remind them every social worker meeting the boys had that they were not permanent parents. They could be taken from them for any reason; they were too young to take care of teenagers, Logan was in a position of power over them, Logan had only really become an American citizen around a year ago, Virgil was unreliable with whether he was at work or not – and he was unfortunately mostly at work, they didn’t have enough bedrooms for all their sons – they could even say that because the two of them were gay they couldn’t have kids.

“Dad can we go take Emmy to get cotton candy?” Remus came next to Logan smiling, expecting some money and his little brother. 

“Cotton candy!” Emile giggled as Logan placed him on the ground again, squeezing his cheek and giving Remus money. Roman also stopped singing and held Emile’s hand getting the money he had already been given out of his pocket.

“We’ll go get ice cream over there kiddo.” Virgil said softly at the boys pointing to a nearby café. Logan straightened Emile’s pink tie (which he loved wearing when outside the house), and let the boys go to one side of the park. There was one rule they allowed the teenagers to have, if they wanted to explore the park on their own for a while they could, they just needed to respond to texts.

Logan and Virgil entered the ice cream café, ordering an Oreo and vanilla ice cream to share. They sat together on a small table. It was very unusual, they had gotten used to having children surrounding them all the time that sitting together alone felt uneasy. Before kids they’d prefer it, any gathering with others like a double date with Janus or a meal with family would cause an awkwardness. They’d flirt like small children as if they were scared of being caught for something. Now this was happening because they were alone.

“I love you.” Virgil murmured quietly, holding his husband’s hand with a small smile. He felt as though that was all he could say, and all that needed to be said at that particular moment. Logan nodded, his eyes in thought as he kissed Virgil’s knuckles. Virgil laughed while looking around the park. “I still think we should have got married here, it would have been so cool.”

“They probably have thousands of people asking to be married here every year, it’s probably as likely we would have married here as if we wanted to get married in a castle or something.” Logan smirked, still holding Virgil’s hand as he stole some of his Oreo ice cream. The magic moment played in his head again, the moment he said yes, it was more magical than any Disney attraction. It was a simple church service, they didn’t want anything too fancy. They had only been living with each other for a few weeks at that point too. He still remembered the utter excitement he felt to begin a new life with such an amazing husband, and the excitement came again every morning when he saw his husband wake up. Virgil agreed with the statement Logan said and looked around the park again. “I’m sure we can renew our vows here on an anniversary.” He smiled, but Virgil had seemed to be concerned with something else.

“I really don’t want to lose the kids.” He whispered in case a kid was returning. The couple hadn’t told the boys that their time together could be limiting – they had already told all their friends that Logan and Virgil were on the path of formally adopting them. Which they were, they just knew they first needed to figure out how to give Patton a bedroom. Virgil stroked Logan’s fingers, moving his eyes to that instead of showing upset. “I fucking love it. It makes me feel connected to you more and, weirdly, saying that I can’t work late because of my kids is – nice. I know I’m being a sap but if we can’t keep the Ray-Feliz boys can we get another kid? I don’t care about ages or gender or race or anything I just really like spending time with you and the kid and watching you be so happy and everything…”

Logan leaned over and kissed his husband, causing vanilla ice cream to smother on Virgil’s lips. It was needed, Virgil was rambling and when he was stressed about something the rambling only got quicker and more prominent. Virgil brought in another kiss just as Logan separated, cupping Logan’s cheek and feeling relaxation enter his body at his husband’s touch. When the kiss ended he didn’t remove his hand, and the pair just sat in silence for a minute or two. 

Virgil’s eyes furrowed and then his eyes expanded, taking in a sharp inhale of realisation. Logan looked confused and squeezed Virgil’s hand. “I have to choose.” He said almost out of breath. “I have to choose jobs.”

“You don’t have to choose anything darling, keeping the kids isn’t fully your responsibility.”

“I have to choose.” Virgil repeated reassuringly, nodding. Logan could tell in his eyes he was nervous but just let Virgil talk through his thoughts rather than jumping on protectiveness. “I’m working minimum level jobs at both the editing firm and the coffee place just to fit both in – if I choose one I’m sure I can get a higher paid job!” Virgil finally smiled, nuzzling Logan as now he seemed the one needing reassuring. “I’m alright honey. I can do this.” The concerned look still didn’t move from Logan’s face so Virgil grabbed a spoon and scooped a large serving of ice cream. “Kiss or Oreo?”

“Oh definitely kiss if I have to choose between the two.” Logan hummed, a goofy smile on his face. Virgil smirked, feeding Logan the ice cream and then grabbing him by his tie and kissing him.

“Papa! Keep it PG-13!” A voice giggled before Patton appeared. The couple separated, giggling slightly with red faces. Patton sat wearing Mickey Mouse ears carrying a bag of other Disney clothing and some bubble gum ice cream in the other hand. He sat with his Dads and started to eat. “I know what ice cream my brothers would like - chocolate for Emile, strawberry for Roman and sour apple for Remus – shall I get those too?”

Virgil and Logan nodded, again giving Patton enough money to buy everything. Patton ran off leaving them alone again, deciding a cuddle was the best thing to do otherwise they might get carried away.

*****

Logan lay in the hotel bed in his NASA pyjamas, tired but awake. He had some work to do anyway for classes, so was on his laptop creating lessons while Virgil was speaking on the phone about something. He didn’t know who Virgil was speaking to, possibly family, but he was just happy that Emile had been sent to bed and the teenagers were also getting ready to call it a night – allowing Logan to fully focus on his job without concern.

“Yes, really, anything.” Virgil said to his phone while walking into the bedroom. Logan smiled at his husband but was ignored in favour of this phone call. “I… I would like to yes, but it’s not necessary.” Logan couldn’t hear the other side of the phone call but watched Virgil pace up and down the room. He didn’t know whether he should interfere and calm Virgil or let him continue whatever conversation he was having. He continued planning his lesson with Virgil’s footsteps creating a rhythm behind him until the rhythm suddenly stopped. “Um… I’ll have to ask my husband – Sherlock?” Virgil turned to Logan and placed the phone slightly away from his ear. “How… Would you feel about moving out of the area for my job?” 

Logan was glad Virgil asked that question slowly and cautiously. He loved teaching at Sanders Academy High, he’d taught there since he got his teaching qualification, he couldn’t imagine moving away from that and being a new teacher again. He’d have to say goodbye to his dear friend Janus, and all the students he’d gained rapport with. And even the kids, they had been in Sanders Academy High School, Sanders Academy Middle School, and Emile was about to start Sanders Elementary. They knew everyone in their year and they had known them since they were small children. How would they react to being new kids? Would it overwhelm them? The boys should be the main priority over a job.

“We can’t answer that at the moment.” Virgil turned back to his phone, talking again and pacing. After a few more nods and questions the call ended, and Virgil faced his husband again. “Honey?”

“Is that for the job?”

“Yes, I just mentioned to both jobs about the possibility of promotions.” Virgil said softly, laying next to Logan on the bed and kissing his cheek. Logan cuddled in, bringing an arm around Virgil and kissing his lips. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll just see what comes up and then we can look at a case by case basis.”

“Look at you being all logical.” Logan chuckled, placing Virgil on top of him and kissing him again. Virgil chuckled too, ruffling Logan’s neat hair to make it messy. “I love you.” Logan uttered, lying down and smiling at the husband on top of him.

“I love you too, you nerd. Now how about we have some fun?”


	16. Not Being Told

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan and Virgil procrastinate telling their sons about the possible school move, resulting in an explosion one school day that is regretted.
> 
> TW - Swearing (not necessarily from Janus - look at me giving some variety), innuendo (that one's from Janus)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why but this chapter almost made me cry. I don't know if it actually makes people cry or it's just 2am and I should sleep. But it's cute cries don't worry.

“Roman! Remus! You’re leaving?” Eric slammed his hands on the table facing his two close friends. Remus and Roman seemed as surprised as Eric, their mouths full of carrot sticks and looking at Eric as if he was insane. “Mr Jackson said Mr Crofters might be handing in his notice! He’s leaving the school!”

“Huh?” Roman said after a small silence. “He… Never mentioned anything to do with that.”

“Why wouldn’t he tell you?” The boys could only shrug. “I mean it really seemed to upset Mr Jackson, he was almost crying in our class.”

Roman and Remus glanced at each other. It was the first day back after Easter break, the best Easter break of their lives with all the Easter eggs and the trip to Disneyland. Logan seemed perfectly relaxed and happy, not hiding anything and enjoying spending time with them and their brothers. Why would he suddenly quit his job? He loved teaching – at least that was what he told his kids every day. He also told the students at the high school how much he loved teaching. Had the Ray-Feliz boys stopped that passion? Had they done something wrong?

“We need to go to Dad.” Remus whispered and Roman automatically agreed. They ran out of the canteen as quick as they could, leaving their packed lunches and bags on the table. If Logan left his job without getting another one he definitely wouldn’t be able to provide for his family of six, and he was only qualified to be a teacher, was he going to give them up? They ran out across the corridors, zooming past people waving at them or wanting to talk. Remus could feel his eyes become clouded as he held his brother’s hand and sprint into his Dad’s classroom.

“Boys what…”

“You’re leaving?” Remus managed to choke out, almost screaming it and letting the tears fall. Roman also seemed to be crying but was holding his brother’s hand and staring at Logan. Logan sat at his desk marking work, with Janus opposite him also looking concerned.

Logan sighed and walked towards the twins bringing them into a hug. “Hey, it’s alright… Just calm down a little and we can talk about it after school.”

“No! We need to know now!” Remus screamed again, untangling himself from the hug to glare at his father. “You can’t tell an English teacher before telling your own kids! We’re your family! Do you not care?” Logan was frantically trying to quiet him as he was obviously heard from the corridor, but Remus didn’t care. He was full of anger and fear and needed to let all of it out.

“You’re such a stupid fucking idiot! I hate you! You can’t act like you’re going to adopt us then leave us out of things – got it? Got that through your thick skull?” Remus continued screaming, throwing every insult at the parent/teacher he was staring at, while slightly calm Roman closed the classroom door. Logan silenced instead of trying to shush his son, smiling softly before looking down and holding Remus’ hands. “I hate you so much!”

“Mhm.” 

Logan’s response confused Remus a little even though he knew it was a common reaction for the teacher. If ever a student kicked off and started angrily shouting in class Mr Crofters was a professional at staying calm and collected, and tended to just nod and agree while trying to get the student out the classroom. His eyes were soon empty of tears as he stared at the teacher that was now stood level with him and stroking his hands. He just stood staring in half amazement while choking on past tears. 

“I’m sorry.” Logan started once Remus had silenced, keeping the eye contact with his son. “It was just a passing comment to a friend of mine that I didn’t want to get out to anyone other than him just yet. It’s because of Papa’s work, he wants to get a better job to supply for us but that might involve moving from Sanders Academy to another school. We wanted to tell you before school started but we never found a correct moment to say the bombshell that you might be leaving the place you consider a home.”

Remus nodded, taking slow breaths to calm himself. He was glad Logan spoke slowly so that he could copy his breathing patterns and calm. Then Logan smiled again, glancing at Roman with the same smile. They stayed silent for a few minutes, Logan allowed time for his sons to process everything and even Janus was quietly eating a sandwich and not making eye contact with the family. Remus expected some kind of punishment for his screaming and swearing at a school teacher but no such punishment came. Logan just kept on holding his hands and softly smiling.

“I have a planning period after lunch, I can drive you both home so you can play some games together or something and not have to face classes.”

“Does Papa know how likely it would be that we have to move?” Roman whispered, walking closer to Logan before fitting himself between Logan’s arm and chest. Logan sighed, flicking Roman’s hair with his chin as both hands were working on calming Remus.

“Soon. And you won’t have to move schools until September if we do.”

Remus let go of Logan’s hands and also shuffled closer for a hug. Logan hugged them both, holding one in each hand. “I will do anything to make sure we don’t move kiddos, don’t worry about that.” Logan whispered, just cherishing his moment with his kids. “And you have to remember it is perfectly acceptable to cry – it doesn’t challenge your masculinity and it’s a very big moment in your lives and I can easily email your teachers about…”

“Shut up Dad.” Remus muffled while his face dug into Logan’s black button up shirt. He paused for a moment how the shirt had transformed in a year: from a threat before Mr Crofters took time to help him, to secure as he knew he could use maths lessons as an escape from being a Ray-Feliz, and now the shirt held who he knew was the family that would never turn away or hurt him. “I love you.”

“And that is where I leave to let Mr Crofters be a sweet as honey sap.” Mr Jackson sighed, finishing his lunch and standing, a chuckle escaping him the same time the movement of a chuckle escaped the body the twins were hugging. He walked towards the door but stopped at the twins, who had now lifted their heads to look at him. “You two have the best Dad in the world, and you deserve it.” He said unusually seriously, Mr Jackson was never serious. That only lasted a second though. “I mean he already had a lot of practice with his husband calling him Daddy.”

Mr Jackson winked and left, letting the twins and Logan chuckle to themselves at the very Janus appropriate joke. Logan stood, not forcing his sons to let go of him but probably just saving his legs from hurting. “Right – I’ll send you home? Papa bought Mario Kart for the Switch yesterday.”

“You can join us Dad.” Roman said as more of an order rather than a request. “You have our class last lesson today – and you can get away with one substitute teacher lesson to be with your kids right?” Roman smiled wide, fluttering his eyelashes balancing gold eyeshadow on them with a giggle. Logan sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Fine. Just this once though, and I’ll put it down to Remus’ screaming fit rather than a passion to beat your butts at Mario Kart.” Remus laughed nervously but agreed to the plan. He could easily unleash a little more pent up anger at other things in front of the front office to be allowed out school.


	17. Bean There, Expresso That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil takes a walk and figures out how to stop his husband's stress
> 
> TW - None really, I include non binary characters so please tell me if I do pronouns wrong.

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you Remy.” Virgil sighed while carrying the pet carrier out of the vets that held his grumbling, meowing and hissing cat. Remy meowed louder as a response while Virgil walked down the street. It was a weekday and one of Virgil’s few days off, so he had the responsibility of taking Remy to the vet after an ‘incident’ the previous night. “It was your fault for throwing up in Logie’s coffee.” He tried to supress a laugh remembering her husbands’ reaction at his coffee cup filled with disgusting green gloop.

He was planning on just walking home straight away; however he was the only one home as the kids were all at school and Logan was at work. Because he would be alone at home he decided to take a longer route, ignoring Remy’s howls and looking at all the small corner shops he’d never been to before. The only places he went to were the Starbucks he worked at, the editing company around a half hour drive away, and his home. It was rare Logan and Virgil would go outside for dates, before the kids they were happy with the privacy of their house. For anniversaries they went to a restaurant that they had their first date back in college. Apart from that Virgil rarely explored the place he lived. He’s definitely explore more if he ended up moving.

That was when he saw a quaint little coffee shop he hadn’t found before: Bean There, Expresso That. It was a small corner shop made of wood, hopefully not flammable, with vintage chairs and sofas. It seemed like all the furniture in it had come from a charity shop.

While spying into the coffee shop he spotted a man dressed in brown behind the counter staring back. Another person then opened the door and smiled at Virgil. “Do you want a coffee?” The person, with an orange beanie said, with a wide smile. Virgil paused for a second wondering how to speak.

“Do you allow angry cats in your shop?”

The person laughed and nodded stepping back so Virgil could walk in. It seemed to be only three people in the store: one behind the counter, one at the door, and another sipping coffee on one of the sofas. Remy’s grumbles silenced as he sat beside the person drinking coffee. The three people seemed to have similar uniforms – black jeans, dark green shirt and brown apron.

“You going to get your cat out?” The person with black hair and drastic makeup smiled, placing their coffee on the table and smiling at Virgil. Virgil nodded and allowed Remy to sit on the couch, hoping the workers didn’t mind. But Remy settled and they didn’t seem to mind. “I’m Talyn by the way.”

“Virgil.” Virgil smiled, taking out his hand which Talyn shook. “Has this place just opened up?”

“We’ve been here for a few months.” The orange beanie person said, walking over with a coffee they just got. “Joan.” They smiled, sipping their hot coffee and stroking a relaxed Remy.

“You want a coffee Virgil?” The man at the front desk smiled, checking the money they had made that day. Virgil smiled and walked over, ordering a simple black coffee and some sweet treats so that he was giving as much money as he could. “Nice to meet you.” The man smiled, holding out a hand which Virgil shook quickly. “Name’s Thomas Sidas. I’m the manager here – it feels weird saying that.”

“It’s a nice business you got here, I love the rustic feel actually.” Virgil reassured, sounding a little like his husband with the business terminology but it was the wording he was used to being a barista so understanding the coffee business.

“Yeah thanks, took a lot to set it up.” Thomas got his own coffee and sat with his friends, letting Virgil join. Remy was happily enjoying strokes from Talyn and Joan.

“It must have cost a lot too, how much did it cost to buy the shop?”

“Eh – We did fundraising for it throughout high school.” Joan shrugged, not looking from Remy. Virgil nodded, the group did seem quite young, maybe college age – but he was never quite sure. “It’s not even open yet though. Still need to get all the business people.”

“Business people?” Virgil echoed, slightly hopefully. He wouldn’t mind mixing his interest in business with his love of coffee – and helping a small business off the ground would make him happy. “What do you mean business people?”

“Oh stuff like advertisers, accountants, all that. My Dad supplies them for now but – as you can tell it hasn’t gone well.” Thomas sighed, looking around at his empty coffee shop.

This seemed like a dream come true. Virgil’s house was only down the road, it involved coffee, and his degree in media was applicable to advertising. The only reason he hadn’t gone that direction before was that the businesses were very picky with people and expected marketers or advertisers to do a lot of travelling which would make him nervous. This place would be different though.

“I can do advertising, I’m qualified and looking for a job.”

“Wait really? No way!” Joan almost screamed, reaching over to hug Virgil. Virgil laughed, flinching slightly but hugging back. 

After a few more salary discussions and a few more cups of coffee Virgil made his way home. He only sat for a few minutes, flicking through channels on the television until he heard the door unlock.

“Sherlock!” Virgil screamed happily as he saw Logan’s distinctive arm open the door, running up to his husband and giving him a kiss. Logan mumbled in surprise and then reciprocated the kiss, holding Virgil for a second and gazing at him lovingly. 

“Papa!” Emile shouted with the same enthusiasm, lifting his arms up expecting to be held. Virgil did just that, minding Emile’s tie so that he wasn’t uncomfortable, and gave Logan another shy kiss. “Patton’s on the bus and Remus and Roman are still in school – they’re big! But I got to talk about the animals I learnt about with Daddy!”

“He knows lots of animals…” Logan sighed with slight tiredness, placing down with schoolbag and getting out the work he wanted to do at home, turning on his laptop with it on charge. “You seem happy Verge. Did Remy not scratch you at the vet or something?”

“Oh he did – but I have good news!” Virgil smiled, allowing Emile to play with his hoodie strings. Remy seemed to be watching from the living room sofa as if he knew what was about to be revealed. Logan raised an eyebrow expectantly, smirking a little. “I got a job here! We don’t have to move far away!”

“I don’t have to leave…” Logan mumbled after a silence, his eyes widening and expanding. “Oh thank God – tell me about it.” And with another kiss Virgil’s legs got weak and he was so grateful he didn’t stress his husband anymore. He was going to help this coffee company, and help them keep their sons.


	18. Birthday Presents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan celebrates his birthday, and the kids have their last social worker meeting.
> 
> TW - High school bullying, mention of homophobia, social workers and police officers (I think that's it but say if there's more)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI - Wine gums are the best things and I'm happy I finished this book at 69 pages.

Virgil drove into Sanders Academy’s parking lot and checked the time, 2:55pm. It was the start of his husband’s last lesson of the day, on a very special day, and he was teaching his eldest sons’ maths class. It was a very special day for him and Virgil – not because it was a beautiful early June day nor because it was only a few weeks until summer break – but because it was Logan’s birthday. Logan always forgot his own birthday of course, the date was only six days after their wedding anniversary and that date was apparently more important to him. Their wedding anniversary was amazing as always; Roman and Remus were on babysitting duty the whole weekend so the couple could have a weekend away in the city where they went to university together, eat at the restaurant they had their first date at and walk around the hiking trail Logan proposed at when they were a whole lot more in shape.

No-one around Logan forgot his birthday of course. Every year Janus and Virgil bound together to make a big extravagant deal of it. Virgil got up at 3am and tied a ‘happy birthday’ sign to the top of Logan’s car and stuffed the entire car (except the driver’s seat) full of dark blue birthday balloons. He also sewed a happy birthday badge onto Logan’s laptop bag so it couldn’t be removed, making sure his first birthday present was a brand new bag that could only be used after his day of work. Janus’ plan was even more extra, they had planned it the entire week before over text (hidden from Logan, but the two texting each other wasn’t unusual as the two had very similar snarky humour). While Logan was teaching his first class, a senior class that knew it was Logan’s birthday due to the ridiculous festivities that happened the same time every year, Janus wheeled in a triple tiered birthday cake with twenty-seven candles lit while the class sang happy birthday. Once that was over the cake was to be proudly displayed on a shelf in Logan’s classroom with every happy birthday sign Janus could buy pointing to it. Then also every lesson there would be two students with balloons to walk in and give their teacher the balloons and a message from Janus about how old he is now to add some existential crisis. Roman and Remus were tasked with giving the last two balloons of the day and they were very excited to celebrate their Dad’s aging.

And now Virgil was waiting outside the high school, sitting in his car for a moment. He knew the plan was for him to walk in, he had gotten permission from the school to walk in and disrupt Logan’s class for the last ten minutes. He had a purple and blue balloon next to him along with a present of Logan’s favourite sweets (wine gums – they’re usually only available in the UK but Virgil found a store that sold them) and a blindfold. There was a surprise lurking for Logan, which was why Virgil came to pick him up.

With a deep breath Virgil entered the school; walking around the corridors, following his husband’s voice to find his classroom. Luckily he didn’t have to walk too far as all the maths classrooms were near the school entrance, but it still made Virgil slightly nervous. He was transported back to his high school days just by the sight of the lockers; being stuffed into lockers, battling his sexuality as although his family accepted him his classmates didn’t. He was the only gay kid in his high school so the dating pool was non-existent, it was only when he entered college that he knew he had a chance at love and almost immediately he fell in love with the nerdy, nervous British guy he met at the library. High school seemed like a lifetime away, but actually being in a high school hit Virgil like a brick.

“Verge?” Logan mumbled as Virgil entered, a smile and a chuckle escaping his lips as he met eyes with his husband. “This day is just full of surprises. Class, this is my husband Virgil. Virgil do you mind sitting at the back of the classroom next to Remus so I could set some homework?” Virgil nodded, almost saying ‘yes sir’ due to the pressure of the environment making him feel like a student again. He sat at the back next to his son, who smiled at him but was busy trying to understand the work he had been given to do a proper acknowledgement. Even though he knew he could get all the one-on-one help he needed from his teacher at home Remus had said several times he wanted to work it out on his own. Virgil paid attention to the board too, but everything looked like Greek since he hadn’t touched a maths textbook in years. 

When the lesson finished the kids walked out and into the corridor to go home. Virgil approached his husband and kissed his cheek, causing the pink tint to appear that he loved to see ever so much. “Thank you.” Logan whispered, grasping both his husband’s hands and holding them, balancing the bridge of his nose on Virgil’s forehead and pulling a soft smile. “You make every birthday the best birthday ever.”

“You’re acting like the day’s over.” Virgil smiled wide, looking up at his husband and resisting joining their lips together. “I have another surprise for you.” Logan raised an eyebrow at the black tie Virgil held in his hand to act as a blindfold. “Blindfold yourself and follow me, you’ll get a wine gum as a reward.”

Logan laughed and did as he was told while Roman and Remus got the school bus home to take care of their brothers. Virgil knew where he was driving to, he had planned this present for months and knew Logan was going to love it. And even though it was a surprise Logan still asked where they were going every five minutes.

Virgil drove onto the driveway and looked over the present he got his husband and their family. It was a very expensive present, he had to have his family’s help slightly but the coffee shop he worked at was becoming really popular so it wasn’t a bad investment that would be regretted in a few years. It was all worth it – and after all, Logan got the same present for Virgil when they graduated college. This was just an upgrade.

“You can take the blindfold off.” Virgil whispered, giving his husband a quick kiss while he helped him out the car and stand in the correct place. Logan laughed softly and took the blindfold off and his glasses on, looking around before processing the present in front of them.

“Wait… YOU GOT A HOUSE?” Logan almost screamed, his mouth wide open while he examined the house. “Or – no – this must be a hotel. This is way too huge for us to have…”

“Nope, you were right the first time Sherlock. This is our four bedroom, three bathroom house.” Virgil held his husband’s hand to calm him. Logan didn’t seem to need calming due to anxiety though, he was rather excited. A wide smile lay on his face. “Do you want to go inside my nerd?”

Logan could only nod excitedly, following his husband’s hands and looking everywhere he could. The front door lead to an entranceway with two doors, one to a large living room and the other into a dining room – which gave Logan a large shock. “You’ve got to be joking Stormy… Only rich people have dining rooms.”

The kitchen was a lot bigger than their small tiled room in the other house. And it lead to a side garden bigger than they had before. Upstairs were all the bedrooms, enough for each family member as Roman and Remus wanted to share a room. Logan and Virgil’s bedroom even had a small balcony that overlooked the street. “And your school is there – and Bean There, Expresso That is just behind…” Virgil said, pointing across the many houses they could see. Logan wrapped a hand around his waist, a smile still on his face while he listened to his husband’s soft voice. “So… Shall we put down the deposit to move here in September?”

Logan chuckled, enjoying the silence for a moment to hear the birds chirp. He then turned to his husband, goofy smile and eyes full of love for the person in front of him and held him closer. Virgil only chuckled and held onto Logan’s shirt while he received a kiss on the forehead. Only three words could be said, and they were the only words that he could think of to describe his feelings and adoration. “I love you.”

*****

“I don’t want you to stop being our dads.” Patton mumbled, leaning into Virgil who he was sitting next to on the bus. The family took the bus together, Patton and Virgil sat on the two seats available with Emile on Virgil’s lap, while Logan, Roman and Remus stood around them. It was a big day, it was the kids’ last social worker meeting so they would figure out where they were going next. They’d either be allowed to legally become Crofters children or go into foster care. And they already knew what they wanted.

“I’m sure there’s no reason to worry.” Logan said clearly to all his kids, even though he was worrying himself. The police could make a stupid decision and decide Virgil and Logan were unfit parents. They were young and they were gay, and both could be used against them. “We’re so proud of all of you, you’re our kids whatever the police say and we will fight for that.”

“I’m going to tell them that you’re the bestest amazing dads ever!” Emile giggled, looking up from his animal noises toy to smile at Logan. Logan smiled back while Virgil hugged Emile tightly and blew a raspberry on his cheek.

“I never knew Mr Crofters could be such a softie.” Remus smiled, holding onto the bus pole while listening to music. The twins were very concerned about how this social worker meeting was going to turn out. They didn’t want to go back to being the sole providers for their brothers, once a while babysitting was fun and good when their parents wanted a date but they couldn’t go back to worrying about money and food and balancing school on top of that. They wanted to stay being kids. “He’s like a big teddy bear.” Remus gave Logan a small hug after that, before listening to his music again.

Roman was silent, just listening to his Disney songs. Life had finally gotten good, and he was excited for the future. His plan before used to be to just graduate high school and perform in small church amateur dramatics groups to get enough money to help his brothers. Now things were different, teachers were telling him he could go to college for musical theatre, and his dads wanted to help pay for it. And just like that it could all go again.

“Roman sit down.” Virgil said quickly as he stood, walking a few steps over to his son. He was crying quietly so Virgil hugged him. “Hey kid… It’s alright Ro, everything’s fine.”

Roman just held his father, crying into his hoodie until he was sat down next to his brother. Logan and Virgil talked softly to him, Roman vented his anxieties, and he was calmed. Everything was fine, everything was going to be fine. Mr Crofters would always be there.

“Hey, I’ll tell you what.” Logan smiled, looking over all his kids with a smile. He didn’t want to say goodbye. “If you get to be in our family – we’ll get a dog for our new house! Remy deserves a brother or sister too!”

*****

“Hold my hand Lo.” Virgil whispered, sitting next to his husband in the police station where his children met their social worker once a fortnight. Logan grasped his hand without a word, and Virgil kept his eyes on it to calm himself. He didn’t want to be scared but he was, he wanted this family, he needed to be Papa, he was so happy being a husband and father. “We’re only twenty seven…” Virgil mumbled, and Logan raised an eyebrow confused. “If this doesn’t happen…” 

Virgil couldn’t finish what he was saying before he covers his eyes. Logan sighed, understanding exactly the feeling, and held his husband close. “We have time.” Logan said softly. “If this doesn’t happen I’ll get all the paperwork ready to adopt a child with you, and this time next year we’d be dads again.”

“I’ll miss them though…” Logan could only nod, watching the police officers walking around with stacks of evidence or on the phone to a coworker. Virgil calmed his tears and leant his head on Logan’s shoulder, resting his nose on Logan’s neck for the extra warmth and the weak smell his husband omit – a smell of faint flowers and blueberries. 

After a while a police officer came out of a small office, the police officer Logan met before and that was assigned to the Ray-Feliz boys. He held a small smile on his face, going to the front desk and possibly telling a joke as there was a shared laugh. This laugh caused Virgil to look up and also watch. The police officer met eyes with the couple, the smile widening then continued his conversation with his colleague.

“DAD! PAPS!” A scream came from a nearby door with the four Ray-Feliz boys running happily over. The couple got hugs from all of them and they seemed overjoyed, speaking too quickly for either of them to understand even though they were trying to calm them.

“Congratulations.” The police officer walked over with a small nod, and immediately the couple’s eyes glowed and expanded.

They were a family. Roman Crofters, Remus Crofters, Patton Crofters and Emile Crofters.

“So where’s our dog Dad?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's the end of this book! Do you want a one shot book based on this AU about Logan and Virgil's college life and the life with their family?
> 
> But thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still working on my "I am" amnesia series but this idea randomly popped into my head so I decided to write it and hopefully it would be cute. If you haven't read my amnesia series but you like analogical I'd recommend giving that a read.


End file.
